Origin: The Dark Dragon
by Hejmdal
Summary: In the beginning it was peaceful, but suddenly everything started to change, causing the kids to do their best to survive and support each other in their normal lives, as the prospect of war grows bigger. The story follows Anna, Zeref, Acnologia and Natsu's lives, until after the Dragon King Festival, that happened 400 years ago. Rated for violence, death and profanity.
1. Chapter 1

**Part 1: The beginning**

A long, long time ago approximately 400 years before the war between the Alvarez empire, Acnologia and humanity started, there was a certain little boy who was living his life, without any serious worries, nor had he ever experienced war or the horror connected to it.

Or well, there was a certain kid who felt he was really close to get into war with his mother Alva.

"No!" the four year old Acnologia stomped with his tiny foot, while sending the larger woman a challenging look.

"I promise you it'll be fun" she encouraged him, her fingers carefully sliding through his hair as she tried to comb it, but it was no use since it just kept pointing out in all directions.

"Nu-uh!" he shook his head, looking absolutely certain.

"You'll get new friends and get new toys to play with" Alva smiled warmly, but it did nothing to improve her son's mood.

"I don't care! I wanna stay here!" Acnologia huffed dramatically, his arms crossing in front of his chest.

"You know you can't" Alva sighed before placing her hands on his tiny shoulders "But you know what?"

"What...?" he pouted defiantly, staring in annoyance as his mom in a swift movement, swept some of her own much longer silver hair behind her ear.

"If you behave I'll bake you a cake once we get home"

"Really?!" Acnologia's eyes glistened with unrestricted happiness.

"Yes, but you need to be a big boy and go to daycare, kay?" she giggled before poking his nose "So are you a big boy?"

"YAAAARSH!" he squealed in a high pitched tone, as he stormed out to fetch his shoes and jacket, in order to put them on. However his attempt failed miserably, making him grunt and growl in anger, before Alva came to assist him.

"You silly goof ball" she laughed wholeheartedly while helping him get untangled from the jacket.

"But mooooom, we gotta gooooo!" Acnologia squirmed feeling frustrated that he needed her help. After all he was a big boy now, so he shouldn't need help for anything.

"In a minute, dear" Alva smoothly put on her own shoes, before equipping a long white cloak which had a huge golden cross on the back, that was soon partially covered by her long silver hair.

"You're so slow!" Acnologia ran outside, his mom following close behind.

"Don't run off on your own" Alva called "Now come here and take my hand, okay?"

"No!" he answered feeling deeply annoyed at his mom at this point.

"Suit yourself" she smirked to herself, before they started walking down towards the village.

"Mm..." mulling to himself, Acnologia was starting to have doubts about his decision of willingly going along, which made a knot spawn in his stomach. Sure he really wanted to eat delicious cake, but the prospect of her leaving him, was actually rather scary.

Biting down his lip, he somewhat smoothly caught his mother's hand with his own, while averting looking in her direction.

Alva didn't say anything, but smiled to herself and gave his hand a gentle squeeze. After that they walked in silence, the pain in Acnologia's stomach increasing until they eventually reached their destination.

Once inside he immediately felt baffled by the high volume of kids playing. Since he had never experienced anything like it, it shook his confidence so much, his knees started to shake with fear.

"Howdy there" a tall woman with a weird accent and brown braided hair greeted them "Good seeing ya' again Alva"

"You too Georgette" his mother smiled, before she exchanged a handshake with the other female.

"Mmm..." feeling utterly uncomfortable by that point, Acnologia gulped loudly before he ever so smoothly tried to hide behind his mother.

"Looks like he's a shy one, aye?" Georgette said in a kind tone "What's ya name, kid?" she asked while crouching down on her knees.

"Mom..." he gently tugged at her cloak "... she's scary"

"No she isn't, on the contrary she's quite friendly" Alva gently patted his head, her words ringing like large bells inside his skull "Now can you tell her how old you are?"

"I... I'm 4 years old" he counted the numbers on his fingers and showed her four fingers "Like this"

"A then you're a big kid ain't ya?" Georgette's lips slid back into a smile, revealing that one of her frontal teeth was missing.

"Ye-yeah..." he blushed while unconsciously letting go of his mother's cloak.

"And ya know what?"

"Nu-uh?" Acnologia shook his head.

"I know ya like dragons, so I brought you this lil' pet you can have" she brought forth a bag, from where she fetched a miniature plushie, that looked like an orange dragon.

"I... I... can have that?" Acnologia looked at his mom and the plushie in turn, unsure of what to do.

"Sure ya can" Georgette handed over the dragon, which he took with eager hands, before hugging it closely against his chest.

"Thank you" he almost purred with happiness, as he kept hugging his new treasure.

"I have to go, so I'll see you later Acnologia, be sure to be a good boy, okay?" Alva said, but her son was so caught up being happy about his new toy, that he ignored her.

"Don't worry we'll take good care of him" the caretaker smiled at Alva who nodded stoically in return.

"I know you will, after all miss Dragneel speaks very fondly of you"

"Ahhh she does that, now does she?" Georgette blushed while scratching her neck.

"But of course" Alva smiled genuinely.

"Well I'll be... heh, well please give ya regards to miss Dragneel, when ya meet her at the church then!" Georgette chuckled warmly.

"I'll make sure to do that. Now I'll see you later" Alva confirmed before turning to look at her son "You take care too Acnologia, be a good boy okay?"

"Mmm... hm..." he answered, still so focused on his plushie that he almost didn't notice, that his mother suddenly vanished out through the door. But hearing the door closing, he turned to look at the place mother had stood only moments before causing the knot of pain to suddenly come back, as he sprinted towards the door.

"Now, now there little fire cracker, she's gone to work" Georgette caught his waist, preventing him from storming outside.

"But... my mom" small tears gathered in Acnologia's eyes, his lips quivering with sorrow for suddenly being abandoned in a place that was unknown to him.

"She'll be back later" the caretaker tried soothing him, but it didn't help. He felt so lost and lonely, because suddenly his whole world had changed, from being alone at home with his mom, to suddenly being in a strange place, with weird sounds and smells.

 _If only his dad hadn't died all of a sudden, then this might never have happened..._

"NO!" Acnologia squirmed and fought, trying to get free but his captivator was actually quite strong, so he was prevented from going anywhere "Moooom! Come back!"

 _Why did she do that? Had he been a bad boy?_

His mind was in such a chaos, so once Georgette let him go, he quickly sprinted past the woman, with tears and snot streaming down his face. Acnologia was so sad and distraught that he didn't see any of the other kids nor the rooms themselves, until he suddenly spotted a castle build out of pillows he quickly crawled into, so he could hide from his surroundings.

Fortunately for him, there was no one in there, so he could sit by himself while bawling and crying like there was no tomorrow.

"Mom..." he whispered in a fragile voice, as he wrapped his arms around his soft orange dragon, as if his life depended on it.

Acnologia didn't sit there for long, before he noticed that there were a lot of voices coming from outside the castle, that was whispering and talking about something he couldn't hear.

For some reason the aspect of suddenly being confronted by a lot of other children scared him, making him shake uncontrollably, as he carefully slid himself into the corner, hoping that it would make him less visible.

Still crying he noticed that the other kids suddenly went silent, which confused him at first, but after a second he felt slightly relieved, because he hoped that meant they had left the room.

That was until he suddenly heard someone crawling on the floor and noticed that the sound was coming closer, until a tiny girl with long blonde hair suddenly popped into the castle.

"Go away..." he sniffled loudly, while looking at the female who didn't listen to him, but only got closer until she sat down right in front of him.

"Hey!" she beamed with happiness, as her lips curled back into a friendly looking smile "I'm Anna"

"I don't care..." he grumbled in a sour tone.

"Who are you?" she inched a few millimetres closer "Why are you crying?"

"Just leave me alone..."

"Come on!" her smiled increased "There's nothing to be sad about"

"But my mom left me" Acnologia admitted his stomach clenching with pain.

"Ohh! Don't worry about that!" Anna mouthed, earning a sceptic look from the boy "She'll come back when we're done having nappy and play time!"

"..."

"I was sad when mama and dad left me too, but they always come back!" she said in an eager voice, before grabbing his hands.

"Kay...?" feeling really confused about the girl's action, he just sat with his mouth wide open.

"What's your name?"

"I uhm... Acnologia"

"Let's play Acnologia!" she let go of his hands, before she started crawling out of the castle "Come on it's boring in here!"

"Ohhhh kay..." he nodded weakly to himself, but followed the girl outside, while clenching his dragon close to his chest. Once there he turned to look around and to his surprise it was actually a rather huge room, filled with a lot of different toys and of course other children, who looked at him from a distance.

Feeling insecure and slightly shy, he was grateful when Anna took his free hand and dragged him over to a huge box which contained a lot of different plushies. After a minute of rummaging through the pile the girl found a pink unicorn, she held out proudly for him to see.

"This is Popo! I got him when I got here" she giggled before giving it a tight hug "What's yours name?"

"Mine?" Acnologia questioned and held up his dragon "I dunno"

"Ohhh, you got a dragon!" her eyes beamed with happiness as she stood staring at it "You should call it something cool, like... fluffy"

"That's not a cool name" he shook his head, questioning the girl's logic.

"Sure it is... mmm" placing her finger against her lips, she looked like she was in deep thought "How about we call him Barty?"

"Barty?"

"Uh-huh but then..." she leaned in closer to whisper into his ear "... his real name will be Farty, but the others doesn't know that"

"Ohh!" Acnologia's eyes widened before he whispered back "Then it would be our secret?"

"Yah" she nodded before both of them started giggling.

"Okay" he smiled warmly and completely forgot about his former misery.

"What's so funny...?" another kid with black hair approached them and sent both of them a puzzled look.

"Nothing" Anna answered while winking towards Acnologia, who winked back in return.

"... kay..." the other kid sulked, while hugging something that looked like a white tiger against his chest.

"Wooooow!" Acnologia mouthed his surprise when he saw the other kids toy "That's cool!"

"Uh-huh..." he smiled somewhat nervously, not looking at either of them.

"This is Zeref!" Anna pointed at said kid, who was looking down at his own feet.

"He-hey, I'm uhm... I'm Acnologia"

"Nice to meet you" Zeref blushed while looking intensely at the girl.

"Wanna play with us?" Anna asked earning a very small nod from the shy boy.

With that being said and done, the three kids found a spot by themselves where they started playing with their plushies, where Acnologia quickly learned that the tiger plushie Zeref had was called Cat.

They were having so much fun, that time for lunch quickly came and after that it was time for them to take a nap in another room, where a lot of mattresses was placed all over the floor.

Complaining loudly about not being tired, Acnologia found himself being tugged in anyway before Georgette left the kids alone.

"I'm not tired..." he pouted even though his body and mind felt completely exhausted "I'm really not"

Because Acnologia was so tired, his mind started playing tricks on him, making him suddenly feel extremely gloomy, which caused tears once more to stream down his cheeks.

"Are you sad?" Anna asked from beside him, making Acnologia shake his head.

"Mmm-mm" he denied all though he was sniffling loudly, making it obvious that he was crying.

Not saying anything Anna made her way over to him and before Acnologia got a chance to react, the girl had crawled underneath his blanket and was suddenly hugging him.

"What are you doing?" he wondered loudly.

"My mama, always hugs me when I'm sad and can't sleep" Anna admitted before turning her head to look directly into Acnologia's face who was mere centimetres away.

"Kay..." feeling a bit confused, he shrugged to himself before wrapping his arms around the girl.

It felt weird hugging a girl that wasn't his mom, but before he really let that sink in Acnologia started to drift off and soon he was snoring ever so peacefully dreaming about wondrous adventures.

~ o ~ O ~ o ~

The rest of the day went by so fast Acnologia almost didn't want to leave, once his mother came to fetch him. It was just so much fun playing with Zeref and Anna, so he didn't want to go home.

Because of that the tiny silver haired kid was fuming with anger, trying to squirm as much as he could, so his mom couldn't put his jacket or shoes on.

"What's gotten into you?" Alva sighed loudly and for a second gave up getting clothes on her son.

"I don't wanna go!" he yelled furiously.

"Listen to me" she gently placed her hands on his shoulders "You'll be back again tomorrow and then you can have even more fun with your friends"

"... mmm..." he growled, kicking the shoe off Alva had succeeded putting on him.

"Acnologia" she raised her voice a bit "We have to go home now"

"I don't want to!" he roared while shaking his head, knowing he was being unreasonable, but not caring about it. After all he was tired by all the new impressions, but also because he had played so much more than he was used to on a daily basis.

"Can't you be a good boy and do as I tell you, please?" Alva tried appealing, but it fell on deaf ears.

"Nu-uh!"

"Mmm... " taking a deep breath, his mother picked up his shoes again "... did you meet any nice people today?"

"Yeah!" Acnologia beamed feeling all giddy "There was Anna and she has a a unicorn! A-a-and Zeref has a cat! Ohh and I got a plushie of a dragon mom! It's so cool!"

"Ohh wow! Have you named him?" Alva encouraged him to continue while smoothly clothing her energetic son.

"Yah! I called it fart... I mean Bartsy!"

"That's amazing" she smiled and got up on her feet, her task done "Let's go home, then you can tell me more about it on the way there"

"... I..." the tiredness suddenly seemed to overwhelm him right then and there, causing tears to trickle down his chins "... I don't wanna go home..."

"Aww come here sweety" Alva squatted down and raised her arms, encouraging the kid to get a hug. Which he wanted very much, causing Acnologia to storm into his mother's arms, not caring that she was suddenly carrying him outside.

After a while of crying against her shoulder, the tiny kid eventually fell asleep, drooling ever so slightly on the white rope his mother was wearing.

It had been a long but fun day for Acnologia and more days would come, where he would have fun with his new friends.

~ o ~ O ~ o ~

It was a sunny day and because of that all the kids were outside enjoying the sun, while being supervised by Georgette who made sure they didn't do anything dangerous.

"Yahoooo!" Anna giggled warmly as she ran around on the property, that contained a lot of grass, some trees and a lot of flowers.

"Mmm..." Zeref grumbled and hugged his tiger close against his chest, clearly not in the mood for playing any games. Well he seldom was, especially when they were outside because he preferred being inside and not out in the open nature.

"Come on, let's play something!" she ran over to the black haired kid, who shook his head.

"Maybe later" he responded before finding a place in the shade, where he could hide his pale skin from the sun.

Feeling slightly annoyed, she turned her head frantically around only to get reminded that Acnologia wasn't there today. Well fortunately there were other kids she could play with!

Taking long stoic steps she made her way over to a kid about the same size as herself, who also had blonde hair.

"Steven, do you wanna play with me?" she asked politely.

"Sure" he smirked warmly.

"Yay!" bouncing on the spot and feeling incredibly giddy she beamed at him "What do you wanna do?"

"You're it!" he eagerly poked her, causing her to squeal before pursuing him. They kept playing this game, while giggling like the kids they were, until they fell down flat on their backs underneath an apple tree.

"You cheated" Anna pouted at him, being sour that she ended up being it.

"Nu-uh" Steven shook his head.

"Yeah you did" she huffed while holding her head high.

"I'm hungry..." the boy said, followed by the sound of his stomach growling.

"Me too..." they exchanged a look, knowing that they should go tell Georgette that they were hungry, so they could get their lunch.

"You think we're gonna get pancakes today?" Steven asked curiously.

"Maaaaybe" Anna answered as she looked at the apples above her head.

"Or... or... perhaps she'll make fish for us!"

"Mmm-hm" not hearing what he said, she got up on her feet and brushed her dress, before she grabbed the nearest branch and started crawling up the tree.

"What are you doing?!" Steven gasped in horror.

"I'm gonna get us some apples" Anna giggled while climbing up until she reached a branch that contained a lot of delicious fruits. It wasn't hard getting up there and soon she was surrounded by the red glistening treasures.

"Be careful..." the other kid whispered to himself, his eyes glued to Anna.

"You want one?" she asked before throwing an apple down to Steven who caught it, with shivering hands.

"Thank you..." his voice was shaking, because he clearly didn't like the situation.

"Heheh" smiling a toothy grin her eyes wandered around the garden, seeing all the other kids playing. Or well almost everyone, since Zeref was still sulking in the shadow.

She had a pretty got view from up there, causing her to sit swinging with both her legs, as she just sat looking at different things. After a few minutes of doing so and ignoring Steven's callings, she suddenly noticed that a female with long beautiful gray hair had come by, followed by a kid who had the same hair colour.

"Alva and Acnologia!" she said in excitement, feeling incredibly happy as she raised both hands and started waving them frantically "Heeeey!"

"Anna sit still!" Steven gulped loudly.

"Yooohoo!" calling to them she tried getting up on her feet, but unfortunately her foot slipped against the trunk causing her to yelp in surprise, as her body suddenly feel down from the tree before hitting the ground with a thump.

"I told you!" Steven ran over to where she had fallen.

"Nnn..." she slowly got into a sitting position, her body aching all over from taking the fall, not noticing that her blonde friend had run away. It didn't hurt that much, but the skin on her arms and especially her hands were scraped from where her body had collided with the ground.

Which actually hurt quite a bit, but she refused to admit that, as she sat shivering while repressing her feelings. After all it had been her own fault and she didn't want the adults to get angry at her.

"Anna!" Acnologia called her name, causing her to look at his approaching figure, noticing that Georgette, Alva and Steven was following close behind him.

 _Now there were two adults who would scold her,_ she thought and felt incredibly guilty which caused her to clench her hands together despite of it hurting very much.

"Are you okay?" the silver haired boy sat down in front of her and grabbed her arms gently.

"Mmm-hm" she nodded and bit down her lips, while her eyes started watering.

"Anna are you okay?" Alva asked as she leaned down and looked at the girl.

Not saying anything, she felt her best friend slowly opening her hands thereby revealing her wounds.

"Auch..." Acnologia said in sympathy "... does it hurt?"

Looking into her friend's eyes she could feel something inside of her pop, as she acknowledge the pain and guilt.

"It does!" Anna bawled loudly as liquid started dripping from her nose and eyes "Waaaaah!"

"There, there honey It's gonna be okay" Alva said in a kind voice, before she placed her hands above Anna's own.

Feeling curious the crying girl watched as the older woman's hands started to glow, which caused her own hands to feel pleasantly warm. They hovered there for a few second, before they moved over her arms, lingering there for a second until scanning the rest of her body.

"Let me see!" Acnologia grabbed Anna's hands "Look it's all gone!"

"Huh?" sniffling she looked down at her hands and to her surprise the wounds weren't there any more.

"It's okay now" he chuckled and hugged her tightly "I'm here"

"Uh-huh..." the feeling of guilt still haunted her though causing her to cry even louder.

"What's wrong my dear?" Alva asked carefully, causing the girl to shake her head.

"I... I... did bad..." she shivered uncontrollably feeling incredibly scared all of a sudden, as she hugged Acnologia even tighter "... I'm sorry..."

"No, you didn't do anything wrong" the woman gently placed a hand on Anna's back, causing her to flinch in surprise by the sudden touch.

"It's almost time for lunch, I gathered the kids inside" Georgette said while approaching the group "How is the little pumpkin doing?"

"She's fine, just a little scared" Alva said in a cryptic voice.

"Mmm..." the newly arrived woman sucked on her tongue "Anna are you alright?"

"I did bad..." Anna whispered in a barely audible voice "I'm sorry... I promise I'll never do it again"

"My dear little sugar cube, you didn't do anything wrong" Georgette gently spoke before placing her hand on the girl's head "I admit you frightened me for a second there, because I was scared you got hurt, but you didn't do nothing wrong. In fact it's my fault for not seeing you going up there in the first place"

"Really?" still feeling incredibly sad and frightened, Anna turned her head to exchange a look with the caretaker.

"I wouldn't lie to you kitten, now come and give this old fart a hug" she opened her arms encouragingly, causing Anna to sniffle loudly before she stormed over to receive a hug.

"Why is she scared?" Acnologia bluntly asked his mother, as the group made their way inside.

"I can't say for certain" Alva answered before sending him a smile "But as long as she has you as her knight, I'm sure she has nothing to fear"

"Yeah!" he eagerly nodded with his head "I'll protect her, I promise!"

"Good boy" she ruffled his unruly hair, causing it to be even more messy for a few seconds.

Anna didn't hear any of their conversation, trying her best to ignore her surroundings while hiding her face against the woman's chest. She just felt so exhausted and emotional, that she didn't want to deal with anything else. Because of that the tiny girl eventually drifted off into sleep, not knowing or caring about the world around her.

After sleeping for a bit, Anna woke from her slumber when she felt something poking her shoulder.

"Mmm" carefully opening her eyes, she saw that Zeref and Acnologia was hovering above her body.

"Shhh" Zeref placed a finger above his mouth "It's nappy time"

"Ohh" her mouth formed a circle as she noticed they were in the sleeping room.

"We couldn't sleep" Acnologia whispered before exchanging a brief look with Zeref, before both of them laid down on each side of her, where they cuddled close against her body, underneath the blankets they had brought with them.

"Night" Zeref yawned loudly and placed his arm across Anna's stomach.

"Niiight" Acnologia said as he also placed his arm on the girl's belly.

"Heh" she smiled brightly and felt incredibly warm and happy, as she placed her arms around her best buddies shoulders "Night"

It only took a few heartbeats before all three of them were snoring peacefully, feeling secure and happy in each other's arms.

~ o ~ O ~ o ~

Zeref didn't like it when Anna was upset or sad, so it always made him happy when he succeeded in cheering her up. Not that he was an expert in doing that, because he didn't really like partaking in the usual stuff kids enjoyed.

No, he would much rather read books or just casual draw some stuff in the corner by himself.

The only time he would enjoy something else, was when Anna encouraged him to join her. She just had a positive effect on him, because she was always so happy and bubbly, which was such a huge contrast to himself. Of course this wasn't something Zeref really thought about, but he could feel it whenever he was with her.

After their nap, the trio of kids played some different games with each other, until it was eventually time for them to go home.

"Zey-Zey it's time to go home!" a male voice boomed all of a sudden causing Zeref's skin to crawl.

"I told you not to call me" he complained in an annoyed tone, which caused Anna to giggle.

"Don't be like that Zey-Zey" the tall man walked over and started ruffling his son's hair.

"Mmm" Zeref grumbled clearly annoyed about this act.

His father was always so gosh darn happy to the brink of it getting on his nerves. Or well unless something bad happened, then his father would turn into one scary beast that looked like he would breath fire any second, as the radiating heat from his light magic would fluctuate around his figure.

Actually he was a man who would get mad way too easily, by even the smallest things causing the man to stand cursing into thin air.

Zack, as his father was called, wasn't that tall, but he was muscular and had semi long pink hair that reached his shoulders. He also had a small goatee which the old man tended to stroke whenever he was thinking about something.

"Ohh are these the friends you've been talking so much about?" a female voice rang, which he recognised as his mother Nea, before she suddenly stood beside her husband.

"This is your mom?" Acnologia sat as if he was suddenly hypnotised, as he looked at the woman. She was rather curvy and had long dark blue hair. Her face was kind and there was something almost angelic about her.

"Hello there" Nea smiled widely "You must be Acnologia?"

"Ye-yes ma'am!" the silver haired kid bowed his head gracefully.

"Your mom is so pretty" Anna whispered into Zeref's ear, causing him to shrug.

"Come on, we need to get home" Zack sighed loudly and tugged some hair behind his ear.

"Do I have too?" their son looked at the two in turn, sending them his pleading puppy dog eyes.

"I guess you don't have to, but then I guess I'll have to eat that sugary dragon cake by myself" his father shrugged.

"WHAT?!" Nea's eyes glistened with stars "You bought one of them?!"

"Well yeah..."

"Zeref, we're going home right now!" she quickly snatched her son, who whimpered in surprise as his mom started storming towards the door, with their son underneath one of her arms.

"Honey wait for me!" Zack yelled before racing after his wife and son.

"Guhhh..." Zeref moaned, because even though he loved his mother her sudden hyperactive nature was something out of this world.

 _Parents! They could be such a hassle sometimes..._

~ o ~ O ~ o ~

Acnologia had watched the interaction between the Dragneel's with interest, as he tried to remember what it was like having a father. It hadn't been that long ago, that he had received the news about his death and in the beginning he had actually been sad about it, but since he had actually never been that close to his father, it wasn't like he was devastated about it.

The reason for this, was his father often was away on missions, which meant Acnologia almost constantly was alone with his mother. Which suited him fine, because he didn't really need anyone else.

 _Ohh well whatever..._ he shrugged inwardly, before continuing playing with Anna. That was until it was her turn to go home.

"Dad" Anna bounced over to her father, when she spotted the tall man. He was rather slim and had long black hair, that was gathered in a ponytail.

"Hey kid" he smirked "you ready to go home?"

"Yes sir" she answered politely, before storming over to fetch her shoes and jacket.

Not knowing what else to do, Acnologia went out to the two and just stood staring as Anna quickly prepared herself to go home.

"So who might you be?" the man asked him all of a sudden.

"I'm Acnologia" he looked up into his dark eyes "You're Anna's father?"

"Yes I am, my name is John" bowing gracefully he turned his attention towards his daughter "You ready to go kid?"

"Ye-yeah!" Anna answered, her cheeks looking pink from rushing to get her stuff.

"Good, say goodbye to your friend then" John said in a neutral tone before going outside.

"Oh... uhm! See you tomorrow Acnologia!" she smiled towards him, before running after her dad.

"Yeah..." feeling somewhat sad about his friends going, he found his own jacket and shoes, putting it on so he was ready for when his mother came to fetch him.

Sitting there on a bench, he just swung his legs back and forth, feeling rather hot from wearing the jacket inside. It actually caused him to get rather sleepy and doze off a few times, before his mother finally arrived.

"Mom!" he yelled when she entered through the door, before he launched himself at her, engulfing the woman's leg in a tight hug.

"Ohh dear" she giggled warmly, while patting his head "I was only gone for a few hours"

"... it felt like forever..." he admitted, before grabbing her hand "... let's go home!"

"Hang on there little soldier" Alva stopped her son, who stood pouting in defiance at her lack of response.

"We don't have time for that!" he stomped with his foot "I wanna go home and have cake!"

"Ohh so that's your plan, huh?" she smirked at him "Ohh alright, Georgette I'll talk to you later!"

"Sure thing! See ya tomorrow" the caretaker yelled back.

Taking his mother's hand, they followed the path out of the small village, going down the narrow roads. Their house wasn't located in the city but a tiny bit outside, with vast fields surrounding it.

"Hey mom?" Acnologia asked looking up at the woman "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure thing, what is it my dear?" she gave his hand a squeeze.

"What is it like to have a father?" he asked bluntly.

"Ohh..." looking a tiny bit sad, Alva looked at her son "... you don't remember much about your own, do you?"

"No" Acnologia asked truthfully "Is it like having an older brother?"

"Mmm, you could say that..." she smirked briefly "... but I think it would be more accurate to say it's like having a second mother"

"A male mom?" his eyes widened with wonder.

"I guess so" Alva chuckled warmly, causing Acnologia to smile in return.

"Am I gonna get a new father?"

"Maybe" she shrugged "I'm not making any promises though.

"Can't you just go buy a new one?" he ask sincerely, causing his mother to burst out laughing.

"It's not that simple, honey" she hugged him and gently placed a kiss on his forehead "Besides why get a new husband when I have you?"

"Mooom!" he squirmed in her arms.

"My precious little prince" Alva giggled warmly, as she started covering his hair with kisses.

"Gaaaah, naaaaaw, eeeeew, moooooom!" complaining loudly he felt utterly relieved when his mother let go of him, causing him to sprint towards their home.

He loved his mom and the thought of gaining a second one, who would be just as overly affectionate caused an involuntary shiver to run down his spine.

 _Yeah... one mother was more than enough for him..._

Acnologia had a fortunate life at the moment, no matter how others looked at it and fortunately it would continue like that for a long time.

* * *

 **A/N:** Hey and welcome to my latest story!

The first part of this story is sort of an introduction to the different and vital characters, so I'm gonna move on a few years in the next part, as we see the characters grow older.

I could ohh so easily type a lot from their 4 year old's pov, but since I have more ground to cover before the important drama starts, I wanted to keep this one small and innocent.

This story is rated the way it is, not only because of the amount of profanity and violence, but also because there'll be hints towards some more adult material later on.

I guess that's all for now... the next parts will be a lot longer and I will post them rather soon, since I just need to type some minor parts in them before they are ready to get published.

I hope you enjoy the story and look forward to the next that is to come 3

/Hejmdal


	2. Chapter 2

**Part II: Growing up 5 years later**

About five years passed by, with nothing truly eventful going on. The kids stayed at the daycare until it was time for them to start in school, where they replaced their daily games with learning about the alphabet and numbers. It was time that they started moulding their eight year old brains, to give room for knowledge and wisdom. Of course Zeref was already far ahead in terms of learning how to read and write, since that had been his passion from an early age, but for Anna and Acnologia it was something new.

The only thing truly remarkable that had happened, which especially caused Zeref to be even more antisocial than usual, was that his mother ad gotten pregnant with his younger brother or sister. It made him both curious about the human nature, but also slightly scared because it was a natural phenomenon he couldn't quite understand. Which caused the small black haired kid to stand ponding about the situation rather often. That he often stood by himself deep in thought was nothing new, since he constantly thought about the world and the endless possibilities it contained, on a level that was way too advanced for any normal kid to think about.

It was during one of his thinking sessions, that Zeref suddenly felt something hard knocking him forwards, causing him to tumble on his feet trying to gain his composure.

"Gah!" he growled, removing some stray hairs that had gotten into his mouth, before he turned to glare at the culprit "Please refrain from hitting me"

"You didn't answer me!" Anna huffed while tapping with her foot, clearly annoyed by the lack of response from him.

"I..." he winced, knowing full well that provoking her would get him nowhere good. She was the same height as him, but she could still oh so easily turn his skinny body into a world of pain "... I'm sorry"

"You better be" she narrowed her blue eyes, glaring daggers at him for a few seconds.

"Come on, don't be so harsh on him" Acnologia smiled as he placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Whatever!" Anna rolled with her eyes "I asked what you think about tonight"

"Tonight?" Zeref sent her a bewildered look "I... I'll be studying?"

"He totally forgot" the silver haired boy snickered teasingly.

"Ohh my god!" the blonde girl groaned loudly "Can you stop thinking about your books, just for once?"

 _But book contains all the answers I need,_ Zeref thought to himself, his cheeks turning slightly pink.

"It's today we celebrate the Summer Festival down in the village" Acnologia said while ruffling his semi long hair with his hand "Remember we asked permission to go there from our parents ages ago?"

"I... ohhh!" Zeref almost squeaked in surprise "That's tonight?"

"Well yeah..." Anna rubbed her temple as if she was having a headache "... we need to figure out where to meet before the events begin"

"Uhm..." Zeref stuttered uncertain how to answer that question. After all he kinda wanted to stay at home, both to watch out for his mom, but also because he wanted to make more notes about pregnancy and how all of that worked. Not that his friends would understand that, but he just found it truly fascinating to study about the subject, especially when he could follow the procedure happen before his eyes.

"Let's just go fetch the idiot together" Acnologia smiled wholeheartedly while easilly placing an arm around Anna, since she was about a head smaller than him "After all he might not show up, if we don't drag him there"

"True" she returned a smile to the other kid "I mean if we weren't here I'm sure he would sit alone in his room every night, while talking to his plushie"

"I don't talk to stuffed animals" Zeref said sounding mildly offended.

"Sure you don't" Acnologia's smile widened "Just be ready for when we come to get'cha okay?"

"Yeah, yeah..." the dark haired kid nodded with his head in defeat and before long, his two friends had left his company, causing him to go the distance back to his home alone.

 _Well he better get as much out of this as possible..._ he thought, before sprinting as fast as his legs would carry him. It didn't take long before he found himself, breathing heavily with sore muscles, causing him to almost fall flat on his face when he entered the living room.

"Are you okay?" his mother Nea asked from the kitchen, where she was carrying a huge pot of what he assumed was boiling water in her hands.

"Mom!" Zeref screamed in horror as he marched over to her "The doctor told you not to carry anything heavy or do anything dangerous!"

"Ohh this isn't heavy" she chuckled warmly "It's just a little hot it's all"

"I don't have to use my mathematics, to figure out how heavy that is, plus the hot water is a safety hazard" he scolded his mother.

"You're such a clever boy" Nea smiled warmly while carrying the pot over to the kitchen table.

"Mom..." Zeref sighed in frustration "I told you this so many times before, even the books I borrowed from the library agrees on this fact"

"It's gonna be fine" she removed the lid and glared inside the steaming pot, before turning to ruffle her son's hair "I promise that nothing bad will happen"

"Mooohhh..." he squirmed a bit in annoyance "... why are you even up, shouldn't you be in bed resting?"

"Mmm?" Nea looked confused for a second, as she tugged some of her long blue hair behind her ear.

"Moooooom!" he stomped with his foot "Please take this seriously!"

"I am honey, but there's no reason for me to stay in bed" she massaged his chin reassuringly.

"Can you just..." Zeref growled in anger "... can you please go sit on the couch, I'll get some lemonade"

"Ohh, that sounds lovely" Nea smiled before making her way towards said item, her gigantic stomach obviously slowing down her movements.

"Stupid mother..." the kid muttered to himself as he ran out to the cold room, where he found a bottle of lemonade they had made, after harvesting lemons from their tree the previous season.

After getting that, he went to the kitchen where he got two cups which he brought along, as he strolled into the living room, where his mother was humming to herself.

"Here..." he said while pouring the liquid into two cups, before handing one to his mother.

"Thank you honey" she accepted the cup and sent him a bright smile.

"Yeah..." Zeref sighed loudly as he sat down next to her on the couch.

They just sat there enjoying the silence for a while, Nea sitting humming some weird tune while wiggling with her toes.

"Your feet are swollen..." Zeref noticed as he watched her mom's feet moving.

"Yeah, I kinda look like an elephant don't I?" she chuckled brightly.

"It's because you have more water in your body" he stated knowingly "And it's worse today because it's hot outside"

"Is that so?" Nea wiggled even more with her toes "They look like tiny sausages..."

"I should measure them to see if they are bigger than they were the last time..." Zeref rubbed his chin "That way we could calculate the possible time for when you give birth..."

"That's not how it works" she laughed wholeheartedly while using her arm to hug her son closer to herself.

"Mmm..." grumbling he allowed her action, his head suddenly resting against her gigantic stomach that moved ever so slightly to the rhythm of her breathing.

"Don't worry so much about it" she gently stroked his hair "I promise it'll all be fine, after all your mother is one of the strongest female mage there is, so there ain't nothing she can't do!"

"..." not answering her, he knew that her eyes was burning with passion. She did that sometimes and went into her hyperactive mode, her confidence growing so large, that she would start bragging about her own powers.

 _Such a childish mother..._ he sighed loudly, feeling drowsy all of a sudden.

"Ohhh!" Nea squealed "Someone is awake right now"

"Yeah..." Zeref nodded, trying not to sound like her outburst had surprised him "... I can feel it"

"The baby is saying hi to you"

"... maybe..." he gently pushed his chin harder against her stomach "they do say infants can hear people talking, even when it's in the womb"

"I'm sure the baby can hear you" she said in a gentle tone.

"It's kicking..." Zeref said fully focused on the movement his sibling was doing ".. perhaps the lemonade triggered this... I have to go check it out in my book, don't you move anywhere!"

"Yes sir!" she saluted at him, earning an annoyed growl from her son.

Running he made his way to his bed, where his stack of books was gathered. Rummaging through them it only took a few seconds before he found what he was searching for, before he ran back to his mom.

"Okay, now..." he opened the book and flipped through the pages "... let's see..."

Zeref didn't know how long he sat examining the book, while occasionally explaining some stuff to his mother, but as he did he could feel the remaining energy leaving his body, making him feel rather exhausted.

"Are you tired?" Nea asked clearly recognising how drowsy he was starting to sound.

"Mmm..." he yawned while lazily shaking his head.

"Come on" she gently hoisted his head down, so he was resting against her stomach "A big boy like you needs to rest sometimes too"

"Mom..." he said in a serious voice.

"Don't worry" she started caressing his hair again with her fingers "I'm just gonna stay right here and close my eyes for a bit"

"Good..." Zeref yawned again and closed his eyes. After that it didn't take more than a few heartbeats, before he drifted off into sleep, his mom doing the same.

o ~ O ~ o ~

When Anna arrived to Zeref's place, she gently knocked on the door waiting patiently for an answer. She tried a few more times, but still nothing happened making her turn to exchange a look with Acnologia.

"Do you think he forgot it again?" she asked causing Acnologia to roll with his eyes.

"It wouldn't surprise me and that he's busy being all worried about his mom" he shook his head "Ohh well we better go see for ourselves"

The silver haired boy barged in, Anna following close behind him. She wasn't surprised that Acnologia would do this, but she would never have done the same thing, so the situation made her feel slightly nervous.

"Oy! Meat head!" the tall boy shouted as he searched the place with his eyes "It's time!"

"You shouldn't call him that, what if his parents are home?" Anna gasped as she knocked his shoulder with her fist.

"Whatever..." he shrugged and walked into the living room, where they spotted the mother and child sleeping on the couch.

"Ohh..." Anna quickly walked over to her friend, before Acnologia got a chance to use violence to wake their common friend "Zeref..." she called while gently shaking his shoulder.

"Mmm..." he groaned while slowly opening his eyes "Anna?"

"Yes it's me" she smiled warmly at him as he slowly got into a sitting position "We came to get you for the festival"

"Ohh... right..." he yawned while rubbing his eyes "... sorry..."

"It's okay, we have plenty of time" Anna smiled reassuringly.

"No we don't, we gotta go right now!" Acnologia growled while crossing his arms above his chest.

"Ihhyyaaaa!" Nea suddenly screamed while flailing with her arms, knocking Zeref down from the couch, while causing the white haired kid to get huge bulgy eyes as he stared in surprise at the older woman.

"Ahh... hah..." she gasped while turning to stare at her child lying flat on his face Anna laying beside him with a confused expression, while Acnologia looked like he had just seen a ghost "... sorry, I kinda had a nightmare" she said while sheepishly rubbing her neck.

"That's okay, you just surprised us with that outburst" Acnologia said in the calm and respectful tone he always used towards Nea.

"Thank you" she smiled at her son's friend, before turning to look at the others "I'm sorry to ask, but what are you kids doing here?"

"... you didn't tell her did you..." Anna grumbled as she gave Zeref beside her the death glare.

"Oh... n-n-no!" Jumping up on his feet he spun around on his heels to look at his mother "Uhm mom? Remember giving me permission to go to the Summer Festival?"

"Sure! I ohhh!" her mouth formed a circle "It's today isn't it?"

"Uh-huh" Zeref looked almost guilty as he stood staring at his feet.

"Well you better get a move on then" Nea nodded while rubbing her chin "They light the bonfire rather early this year, so you need to be there soon, if you also want to buy snacks"

"Exactly!" Acnologia threw his arms to the side "That's what I've been trying to say all along!"

"Yeah, yeah..." Anna rolled with her eyes as she grabbed Zeref's hand "... come on, we better get going before he throws us down there"

"Wa-wa-wait!" Zeref stuttered as he was being dragged away "Mom, I'll be back later"

"You kids have a good time" his mother waved with her hand.

"Don't do anything stupid!" her son yelled, but didn't get a chance to say anything else as Anna managed to get him outside.

"You worry too much" Acnologia said in a grumpy tone.

"Leave him alone, I bet you would act the same way if your mom got pregnant" the girl watched the taller boy tense for a second, knowing that the idea made him feel uncomfortable.

"No I wouldn't!" he snapped back at her.

"Yes you would!" Anna smirked teasingly "You're such a mama's boy and always has been"

"Nu-uh!"

"Uh-huh!"

She wiggled her tongue mockingly, Acnologia doing the same as they stared at each other in silence.

"Uhm..." Zeref interrupted in a quiet voice "... I just wanted to say, that your dress looks nice Anna"

"Ohh!" she blushed while looking down at her rather simple blue summer dress "You think so?"

"Yes, it suits you" he smiled and blushed as well.

"Thank you" she felt her stomach tickling with happiness, as she gently tugged some of her long blonde hair behind her ear.

"I guess it does make you look more girly" Acnologia uttered his opinion, while scratching his neck.

"Geeh, thanks for noticing" Anna pouted feeling rather annoyed, that he didn't comment on it when she met him earlier.

"You're welcome... so... just so you know... the last one to get there is a rotten egg!" the silver haired kid yelled eagerly before he suddenly started storming away from his friends.

"Naa-aw!" Anna gave in to the taunt and raced after him followed by Zeref, who tried to protest against the idea of them running there.

It didn't take long for them to reach their destination and once they got there it didn't take long before they had the time of their life. The bonfire, candy, games... it was all just amazing and a good opportunity for them to act like the eight year old kids they were and just have fun for once.

~ o ~ O ~ o ~

It was a cold night, the wind was blowing harshly making leaves and smaller objects fly around helplessly at from natural phenomenon.

A man hidden underneath a dark cloak was walking down a barely visible road, but because he had travelled that distance so many times before, he could easily follow the path even if he was blindfolded.

After a while he reached his destination in the middle of the woods, where the silhouette of a massive dragon was sitting patiently waiting for his arrival.

"You finally arrive" it said in a low voice, making a small amount of smoke leave it's nostrils.

"Sorry, for the inconvenience" the man bowed gracefully, before pulling back his hood to reveal his identity. He was kinda plain looking, but he had pretty sharp cheekbones and unruly long pink hair that reached his shoulders. On his chin there was a small goatee, with small stumbles around it, from not being shaven in a few days.

"It matters not" the dragon answered shortly, his silver blue scales glistening in the moonlight.

"If you say so Haldrian" the man scanned his surroundings with his sharp and almost pitch black eyes, making sure that no one was spying on them.

"I'm glad to have this opportunity to speak on behalf of my brothers and sisters" the dragon said, it's yellow eyes glistening for a second "The future's looking bleak for both our kind, if we do not stop this growing hostility towards each other"

"Yes..." the human nodded to himself "... which is why I am grateful to speak to you, as a member from The Church of Man"

"You are a clever and compassionate human" Haldrian stated in a calm voice "Which is why I agreed to meet you in person, Zack Dragneel"

"Thank you, I merely want this situation to get under control, so my children can live in peace"

"But of course" the dragon smiled warmly "That is what we all want, but as it stands now it's only going in the wrong the direction"

"We need to prevent that from happening" Zack closed his eyes for a second "And I have high hopes that we can do something about it"

"Yes... but as you know for each dragon killed by human mages, a new rebellious dragon is born" Haldrian said, his voice filled with frustration.

"We need to stop both forces somehow" rubbing his chin in thought Zack continued "Perhaps if we create some sort of pact?"

"Then there would still be rebels on both sides, who wouldn't listen and continue their ways" the dragon sighed loudly "After all the mages even to this day claim that they need the dragon's flesh for their rituals, while some dragons still think of humans as a food source. We can't just stop their way of thinking, by creating some piece of paper or by creating a law for it"

"I get your point" the human gritted his teeth together "Perhaps.. we need actions more than words to get things moving"

"Yes..." Haldrian nodded stoically with his head "... we need something to illustrate the alliance between our kind somehow"

"It isn't that simple, since there are many issues that might pose a problem to that solution" Zack shook his head, knowing that this would be a long night. In which he was correct as the two of them kept discussing the issue back and forth, not really coming to an agreement that night. But at least their meeting had some fruition as it gave them stuff to consider as they eventually went their separate ways.

~ o ~ O ~ o ~

Zeref felt almost high on adrenaline and sugar, as he walked home that evening. The Summer Festival had been a blast and he couldn't wait to tell his mother all about it.

It didn't take long before he made his way home, making him uncharacteristically barge through the door announcing his arrival.

"I'm home!" he yelled waiting a few moments for someone to respond to him.

"He-hey!" his mother's faint voice called from the living room, causing him to freeze for a second because he instinctively knew that something wasn't right.

"Mom?" Zeref dropped his coat on the floor, as he followed her voice "Are you okay?"

"Ye-yeah..." she answered weakly, causing him to flinch before he spotted her lying on the floor.

"Mom!" he quickly ran over to her and sat down beside her. She looked so pale and was covered with a layer of sweat, her entire body trembling as she laid there hugging her stomach.

"Ahh..." Nea tried smiling at him "... it's coming..."

"The baby?"

"Yes..."

"But that's too soon!" Zeref feverishly ruffled his hair "You want me to get the doctor?"

"No... it's coming" she panted heavily clearly struggling to breath "I don't... want to be alone"

"I... where is dad?"

"Not home yet..."

"Gaaah!" he roared, before taking a few deep breaths to calm his nerves "Okay... okay... okay!"

"Honey" his mom smiled weakly "it's gonna be fine"

"Yes... yes..." Zeref agreed while thinking back to the books he had been reading "... you need to lay on your back"

"Can you..." Nea groaned loudly and pointed towards the couch "... get me the pillows"

Not answering he followed her wish and gently placed them underneath her torso, as she rolled over and laid on her back, knowing from the images in the books what position she should be in.

"I'm sorry..." her voice trembled "... this is gonna... get... ugly"

"Don't worry about it" he chuckled sounding somewhat insane "I helped deliver the cat's kittens remember?"

"Yeah... that's" she tried to giggle while struggling to breath "... a bit different"

"I've got it, trust me" he said trying to sound confident in himself.

"Please get me..." her finger weakly pointed towards the kitchen "Get something out of wood... I can... bite into"

"Ohh, oh yeah" Zeref bounced up and ran to the kitchen where he found a wooden ladle.

"Thank you" his mother said kindly as he got back and handed it to her "Now... you stay up beside me, okay?" she took a deep shaking breath "I'm gonna scream and... it's okay..."

"But shouldn't someone help guide the baby out?"

"Naaw, we're gonna... ghh! Do this... the hard way" Nea's face twisted with pain "Please... take my hand"

"Oh uhm kay" doing exactly that he sat trying to be patient beside her.

"Now... it's time... for mom to work" Nea smiled and looked slightly scared, before they flashed with determination "Cause there ain't no way in hell, I can't deliver this kid on my own"

 _And there it was again, her slightly unreasonable attitude..._

Zeref didn't get time to dwell on it, because a second later she had put the shaft of the ladle into her mouth, as she started pushing with all of her might, while clenching his little hand.

Not knowing what else to do, he kept holding her hand, while trying to encourage his mother with kind words as she kept letting out muffled screams, while biting at the wood in her mouth.

It all happened so fast and yet so slow, but all of a sudden he heard a thumb like sound, indicating that something had hit the ground, making him unconsciously go down to fetch the little human that had exited her womb.

"It's a boy..." he said in a somewhat neutral voice before carefully grabbing the tiny and very blood covered kid, who started screaming like his life depended on it.

"Ahh..." Nea wanted to say something but it was evident she was too exhausted to do that, so she just laid panting while looking at her boys.

"He's so tiny" Zeref hugged the crying baby close to his chest, not at all minding the stuff covering his younger brother "Mom you did it!"

"Yeah..." she smiled vaguely, her eyes shining with happiness.

"Look at him" he flashed his teeth in an almost goofy looking grin as he got up next to her.

"So handsome..." Nea smiled wholeheartedly at her two sons.

"Here" Zeref carefully shifted the crying child into his mother's arms, who instantly started cradling him close to her chest.

"Shhh... it's okay" she gently placed a kiss on the baby's forehead "Your mom and big brother are here to protect you"

Noticing that his mother was shivering, Zeref quickly ran over to fetch a few blankets he covered her with.

"Thank you honey" she expressed her gratitude with a tired smile.

"It's okay mom"

"I'm sorry you had to see that" tears started trailing down her skin causing Zeref to flinch.

"No, it's okay!" he smiled somewhat brightly "I've seen this in my books, so being witness to it was... informative!"

"You're such a smart kid" she motioned with her hand for him to come closer, so she could semi hug him with the arm that wasn't holding the baby.

Resting his head against his mother's shoulder, they just sat there relaxing as the tiny baby eventually fell asleep resting against Nea's breast.

Following his brother's actions it didn't take long, before Zeref fell asleep nudging his head against his mother as sleep overwhelmed him.

~ o ~ O ~ o ~

It had been a long night and Zack wanted nothing more than to get home to his loving wife and snuggle affectionately beside her under the warm blankets. At least just for an hour or two, until he would had to go work at the Church of Man.

Eventually reaching his destination, he tiptoed very quietly inside trying his best not to wake his sleeping family. After all Nea would bring doom upon him, if he disturbed her precious sleep and he knew better than to go against her will.

Moving smoothly he swooped his shoes off and carefully slid out of his cape, when he suddenly noticed the distinctive smell of iron reaching his nostrils.

Forgetting about being quiet he immediately followed the smells trail, making him stand in front of his small family that had gained a new member, when he wasn't there.

 _Ohh!_ He thought while glaring at the three sleeping people. They looked so peaceful, but also rather disgusting since there were blood stains everywhere.

Knowing that it would be for the best to clean stuff up, he made his way over to them, where he gently started stroking his wife's cheek.

"Honey..." he whispered, causing her to stir ever so slightly "... I'm sorry to wake you, but it's time to get up"

"Mmm... dad?" Zeref said in a groggy voice while leaning away from his mom.

"Yeah it's me" Zack smiled warmly at his son, but only got a second to feel happy when his son suddenly smashed a clenched fist against his chin.

"Gaaah!" he exclaimed in both pain and surprise "What was that for?!"

"You weren't here" the kid growled "Stupid dad, what if something went wrong?!"

"I... I'm sorry" he inwardly winced knowing perfectly well that his son was right.

"Stop fighting right now" Nea interrupted in a firm voice, causing both of them to flinch. After all they knew better than to argue against the hot headed woman.

"I am truly sorry I wasn't here" Zack said, feeling utterly horrible about it "If something happened... I would never have forgiven myself"

"... me neither..." Zeref grumbled in a low voice.

"Nothing did, so let's just leave it at that" she said while gently trailing a finger against the newborns chin "Now come say hello to your second son"

"Son?" feeling childishly happy all of a sudden Zack crawled up beside his wife, looking down at the wrinkled and very red human "Ohh, he's so cute!"

"He really is" Nea smiled towards her husband, causing his insides to explode with happiness.

"You really are amazing" he gently kissed her forehead, causing her to giggle.

"I know... well since you're home, what do you say to bond with your son a bit?"

"Yes!" imaginary stars appeared around him as he was handed the tiny baby, who started to whimper, because of the change in temperature.

"Such a precious child" Zack said with imaginary hearts around him as he started rocking the baby in his arms.

"He really needs a bath..." Nea said innocently.

"Yeah, yeah I'll go give him one right now, as long as you take a bath too"

"Fine..." she groaned loudly.

"Good..." he kissed her cheek before getting up on his feet, making his way to the bathroom, while the baby in his arms was crying loudly, clearly not happy about the situation.

"Remember the water mustn't be too hot nor too cold" Zeref said knowingly as he followed his father.

"Yeah, I know" he smirked before they stood before a huge barrel made of wood, where a big went was hovering above it, ready to be pumped to gather water into the tub.

Zack was about to ask his son to do this task, but he did it without being asked, causing the clear liquid to spout into the barrel, while he tried his best to soothe the unhappy child in his arms.

"Is this enough?" Zeref asked when there was a vast amount of water,causing his father to nod.

"Yeah this should do it" he placed his hand in the water, as white and pure white engulfed his hand causing the liquid to raise in temperature.

"Not too hot dad!" Zeref kindly reminded him, making Zack stop warming it before he dipped one of his elbow into the water to test it.

"It's perfect" he said while very carefully dipping the infant into the water, who screamed even louder when his body hit the surface "Aww there, there... you'll be back with your mother in a few minutes"

Using his hand as a washing cloth, he very gently rubbed the substance off the tiny unhappy kid, until he was clean. Once that was done, Zeref handed him a towel that he very gently patted the child dry with, before he used another clean towel to wrap around his body.

"Dad?"

"Yeah?"

"He has pink hair..."

"Yes he does" Zack smiled proudly "Just like his father"

"It can still change though" the older brother said knowingly "It happens sometimes as they get older"

"Ohh really?"

"Yup!"

"You're such a clever boy" he gently used his massive hand to ruffle Zeref's black hair "I'm sure you'll learn your brother a lot of stuff, that even I can't teach him"

"You think so?" his eyes widened.

"I'm sure of it" he smiled encouraging at him "Now let's get back to your mother, I bet this little fellow is hungry. After that I hope you'll watch your mother while I go get Alva, okay? We need to make sure everything is fine"

"Sure thing" Zeref's eyes shined, taken that role absolutely serious because he would do anything to protect his mother and little brother.

And with that the Dragneel's had a new member in their family, a tiny pink haired kid they would name Natsu in honour of the Summer Festival that had happened earlier that day.

~ o ~ O ~ o ~

Anna felt excited and happy as she walked home, from the festival. It wasn't that often she was allowed to go to such an event, especially because it might cost money that they didn't have.

Her father was quite poor, but she didn't mind that at all, because she got all the food and clothings she needed. One of the reasons they didn't have a lot of money, was because her mother had left them a few years back, to go on her own adventure, which Anna would love to do as well when she was old enough.

Until then she had to live with her father, who the majority of the time was an excellent and loving father. Other times... well not so much.

Dreading what she would come home to, her mouth suddenly felt very dry, while her stomach started pulsating and twisting with pain, like she had just swallowed a can of flesh eating worms.

"It's gonna be fine" she encouraged herself, while rubbing her arms, trying to soothe the fear and sorrow that took over her.

Eventually reaching her home, Anna let out a heavy sigh, as she opened the front door to their tiny house.

"Hello?" she called but received no answer, causing her to slide inside and lock the door, before she let out her breath.

"Ahh, you're back, huh?" a sluggish male voice called from the living room, causing her to jump in surprise, as the sweet smell of alcohol reached her nostrils.

"Ye-yeah" Anna smiled politely as she entered the room and noticed her father on the couch, who eyed her from underneath his long black hair.

 _Oh no.._. a lump formed in her throat, causing her to gulp.

She had to be careful, because his mood and actions was always so gosh darn unpredictable when he was like that.

"You had fun?" he grabbed a bottle and drank some of the content.

"It was great" she bowed gracefully, her stomach clenching with fear "thank you for letting me go"

"Ahh, you're so fucking polite kid"

Not knowing what to say to that she just looked at the man called John, who scratched his neck lazily.

"That's your problem, you're way to nice to people"he burped loudly "You should be more... like me"

"Yes, I know" she bowed her head "I'm sorry to disappoint you"

"Just like me..." his eyes narrowed "... now I'm at it, you should try looking differently, you look way too fucking much like a smaller version of your mom"

"Ohh okay" Anna nervously fingered a lock of her long blonde hair "I'll do that"

"Mmm..." he grumbled and took another swig of the bottle "... she also had that look of disgust in her eyes, when she looked at me..."

"Dad you know I like you" Anna said trying to sound calm.

"So polite... have I told you that? You're way too nice"

"Ye-yeah you told me that a moment ago" she laughed nervously, wanting nothing more than to get away from the foul smelling man.

"No I didn't, are you calling me a liar?!" he shouted angrily, causing a shiver of fright to run down her spine.

"A no I wasn't" she shook her head feverishly "I would never call you that"

"Yes you were!" John growled angrily before throwing the now empty bottle against the wall, causing it to break into pieces before the splinters was sent flying everywhere.

The loud crash caused Anna to instinctively yelp in surprise, which seemed to trigger something in her father who got up on his feet and walked over to her.

"Please dad, I'm sorry" her entire body shook uncontrollably, as he firmly grabbed her arms.

"Tsch! You say that, but you'll just leave me like your mother did" John sneered, his foul breath reaching her nostrils.

"I won't" she bit down her lip, trying to prevent herself to scream in pain and fear, since that might provoke him somehow.

"You hate me" he spat, his fingers digging further into her meat, as he applied more pressure to his hold.

"No, I don't" Anna shook her head "Please believe me dad"

"Your mother said the same thing and yet she left me..."

"But I'm not like her, I'm..." a scream escaped her lips as his hand suddenly smacked her cheek, the impact causing the sound to echo through the room.

"Pathetic..." John sneered as he pushed her away, before he started his way back to the couch "... so fucking polite..."

"I'm sorry..." she managed to mutter in a fragile voice, as she started going backwards, until she reached the door that led to her own room. Their place was rather small, so it only consisted of a hallway, living room, kitchen and two separate rooms that they used as their private quarters.

Once she finally entered her own pace, she carefully closed the door and locked it, before her eyes drifted around her room. There wasn't a lot of space, but it was enough to have a bed and a drawer for her clothings. Other than that her books were carefully stacked in a pile on the floor, along with important papers and homework.

"Stupid father..." her shaking body mindlessly got out of her clothes, before she put on her pyjamas and went to bed, without going to the bathroom to brush her teeth or following any of her other usual routines.

 _Why did he always have to ruin everything?_

Grabbing her old unicorn plushie, she got into a foetal position, where she rocked back and forth trying to calm herself.

 _If she had been there... perhaps he wouldn't have started... she should have known that having so much fun would have consequences..._

Gritting her teeth together she just laid there as a million thoughts seemed to spawn in her mind.

He always complained about her looking like her mother when he was drunk, but whenever he was sober he always complimented her beautiful hair, which made her feel both confused but also rather happy. Besides she had asked her best friends what they felt about her hair and they had given her modest compliments.

They were boys and didn't really care about looks, so for them to actually compliment it even if it was vaguely, gave a huge boost to her ego.

 _It was her fault... she should have been there for him perhaps that would have prevented his behaviour... because... he was just scared she would leave him..._

Taking a few deep shaking breaths her thoughts continued.

 _But if she wasn't useful he would abandon her... that way he could have enough money to have a stable life... he told her so ever so often, when he wasn't in his right mind._

Clenching her teeth together, tears started streaming down her chins. For her it felt like she was carrying the burden of the entire world on her tiny shoulders and that she had failed to deliver.

She was guilty and should be punished. Sure, he had done so by slapping her, but the torment she felt inside wouldn't rest.

Anna would never blame her father for what he did, because she knew he was just frustrated and hurt. It wasn't his fault that he felt so emotional, because her mother had broken his heart when she left.

Now she would have to take the blame and the punches, even if it might seem unfair.

 _She deserved it anyway... a bad kid... her fault... it was all her own fault!_

As time went by, she eventually cried herself to sleep feeling like she wanted to vanish from the world. To leave everything and everyone behind, as the darkness suddenly swept her away.

~ o ~ O ~ o ~

Since it was another school day Anna got up early the next day, before she tip toed out of her room to scan through the rest of the house.

Once she got to her father's room, she took a deep breath before peeking inside.

There he was sprawled across bed with a woman in his arms, both of them stark naked.

 _So he had been out partying during the night, huh?_

Her stomach clenched painfully as she started cleaning the living room, by removing the bottles and cleaning the spots of liquid that had been dropped on the floor. She also collected the shards from the floor and cleaned the wall, thereby removing any evidence from when her father had a tantrum.

It took some time for her to finish that task, before she started her morning procedure, taking a quick bath, equipping her school clothes and eating a bowl of oatmeal.

Making sure that her long sleeves covered the bruises on her arms, Anna went to the bathroom one final time to find a cream in one of the drawers. It was a healing cream that would remove the swelling on her cheek, so she smoothly rubbed it on before finding some of the make-up her mother had left behind. Finding a foundation, she successfully hid the place her father had hit her, making her smile somewhat proudly to herself.

 _They could never know... she had to hide the truth, or she would get in trouble..._

 _She would betray her father and he would hate her..._

Shaking her head to get rid of her thoughts, Anna found her bag and quickly filled it with stuff she would need in school. Once that was over with she ran outside, following the road that would lead her to the village.

It didn't take long before she arrived at the old building, where a lot of kids were scattered all around both outside and inside.

Not caring about them she followed the path to her classroom, where she wasn't surprised to see Acnologia and Zeref casually talking to each other.

"Hey!" she smiled wholeheartedly and waved towards the two.

"Ey" Acnologia nodded lazily, sending her a small smile.

"Hello Anna" the black haired kid stood rocking back and forth on his feet, which was rather uncommon since he was always such a stoic and calm person.

"Is something wrong?" she asked in a worried tone, which caused Acnologia to sigh.

"His mom gave birth last night" the taller kid pointed a thumb in Zeref's direction "And know he's super pissed, that he was forced to go to school"

"I wanna be there, to make sure something bad doesn't happen" he grumbled, clearly portraying his level of annoyance.

"My mom went by your house last night and said everything was fine, so stop being such an emo, will ya?" Acnologia smacked Zeref's neck, earning an umpf from his target.

"Ohhh!" Anna's eyes glistened with happiness "Is it a boy or a girl?"

"A boy named Natsu" Zeref gave her a modest smile, that didn't truly reveal how excited he felt inside "And he has my idiotic dad's pink hair"

"That sounds amazing! Congratulations Zeref!" she giggled warmly while hugging the other kid.

"Thank you" he returned the hug, his smile widening.

"I can't wait to see him!" Anna removed her arms and bounced on the spot, feeling excited on her friend's behalf.

"Well..." the black haired kid scratched his neck as he scanned the room "... we could ditch school"

"What?" Acnologia said in a baffled tone, his eyes bulging until it looked like they were about to pop out of their sockets "You know I'm always up for skipping class, but I would never have thought you would suggest that"

"Yeah that is rather surprising" she agreed, since his lust for knowledge was very important for him.

"It's fine, you know I've studied ahead of schedule" he shrugged "Besides I can't wait to show him to you, he's such a cute little creation and a marvellous example of human reproduction"

"We're only doing this, if you promise not to start lecturing us when we get there" Acnologia narrowed his eyes, sending Zeref a suspicious look.

"But... ohh well fine" he answered with a sigh "We should get out of here now though, before the teacher gets here and spots us"

"Ohh leave that to me" Acnologia smirked triumphantly "Come on"

And so the two other kids followed their friend, who jumped out of the window where they landed with a few painful moans in a bush.

"You gotta be silent from now on" the silver haired kid said, before he started crawling along the wall, the bush hiding their figures as they made their way forwards.

After a while they reached a shed, where Acnologia removed a few loose panels before crawling inside, the others following close behind. Still not saying anything, they found a hatch in the floor that their friend smoothly opened, before he jumped down into the darkness.

"I don't like this" Anna whispered in concern and exchanged a look with Zeref, who looked equally uncertain.

"Come on, get down here" Acnologia commanded down from the hole "The janitor is bound to enter the shed at any moment, so unless you wanna get caught get your asses moving"

"Okay..." she tried mustering up her courage before crawling down there, Zeref doing the same before closing the hatch behind them, making it completely dark in what seemed to be a rather small tunnel.

"Just crawl after me, we'll be out of here in no time" the eagerness in Acnologia's tone was evident, as they started their journey through the tunnel.

"I don't like this..." Anna whispered in a fragile tone, but kept moving forwards.

"Darkness blinds even the smallest creatures" Zeref said knowingly.

"What the heck is that supposed to mean?" Acnologia snapped back.

"Merely an observation"

"Tsch, I'll make you observe my fist when we get outta here"

"I fail to see why I would want to see that?"

"... you're a fucking idiot..."

They continued their way through the tunnel and for each centimetres they crawled, Anna could feel how the fear inside of her seemed to build. She hated being in small confined places and the fact she was blind did nothing to soothe her feelings. On the contrary she was slowly starting to panic to the brink, that her heart was suddenly racing loudly inside her chest.

"Are we soon there?" she asked in a fragile tone.

"Yeah, shouldn't be so long" Acnologia answered her but it didn't soothe her. She kept moving though, despite the fact that each movement seemed to drain her from energy until she eventually had to stop. Which ultimately lead to Zeref suddenly bonking his head into her behind with a small "umpf".

Anna on the other hand squealed in surprise and fright, causing tears to gather in the corner of her eyes.

"I'm sorry..." she shook her head, her breathing suddenly staggering "... I have to get out of here... I can't... be here... I need to get out!"

"Anna, calm down" Zeref said, as he gently placed a hand on her leg "We'll be out of here soon"

"I can't... I have to get out" panicking Anna felt how the darkness itself became a thread to her survival. Her skin was prickling in a sickening way, as cold sweat started trickling down her forehead.

 _Dangerous... go.. go... can't... think... must... get out..._

"Please, your fear is unreasonable" Zeref tried comforting her.

"No... I can't..." she fidgeted and turned feverishly trying to find a way out.

"Anna calm down" Acnologia suddenly spoke from somewhere that sounded like it was right in front of her, which was confirmed when she suddenly felt his hands capturing her face.

"I... have to get out..." she pleaded, her tears falling down portraying her inner fears.

"It's gonna be okay" Acnologia spoke in a calm tone before his hands found hers "Now I'm not letting go until we get out of here, just hang on to me, I'll make sure you get out safe"

"You... you promise?"

"Of course, now this is gonna be a bit difficult but we'll get there"

"Thank you..." she let out her breath and instantly felt a lot better, as they continued their way until they eventually reached another hatch, that lead them outside. To their surprise it was in another shed like room, that was filled with a lot of tools and other weird objects.

"We did it!" Acnologia cheered loudly "Heck yeah!"

"Have you ever been through that tunnel before?" Zeref enquired.

"N-no... I just new it was there, from some of the other kids that skip school sometimes" the silver haired boy admitted.

Not saying anything Anna tried to stop the tears from streaming, but once it had started she found it extremely hard to prevent them from spawning.

She didn't know why, but deep down the stress of being in a confided place, had evoked her primal fears, especially because she had endured a lot of trauma with her father not that many hours prior to it, causing her mentality to be utterly fragile.

So it was only natural for her to break down, because it was a lot for her eight year old brain to comprehend.

"It's okay we made it out" Zeref hugged her tightly when he noticed her crying figure "There's nothing to be afraid of"

"I know" she answered and wrapped her arms around him, finding solace in his embrace.

"We should get going" Acnologia stood tapping with his foot, looking mildly impatient.

"Yeah I'm sorry..." Anna sniffled loudly before getting up, where she weakly brushed the dirt of her legs.

"No need to apologize, let's just get moving" he sighed and extended her hand towards her, which she happily grabbed, before they made their way outside.

"Thank you for helping me down there" Anna smiled happily and gave her friend's hand a squeeze.

"Ahh it was nothing" he sent her a toothy grin, causing her own smile to widen.

"I can't wait to see him" Anna used her free hand to grab Zeref's, who nodded eagerly.

With that the three of them continued on their way to the Dragneel's place.

~ o ~ O ~ o ~

It didn't take long before they reached their destination, where they quickly removed their shoes before proceeding into the living room, where they found Nea walking around in circles trying to soothe the crying child.

Feeling slightly uncomfortable Acnologia stood perfectly still, as he watched the woman pace back and forth with the kid in her arms.

"Hey mom, we skipped school to see Natsu" Zeref said in what sounded like an eager tone, before he walked over to his mother.

"Ohh hey kids" Nea answered with a smile "You know you shouldn't do that... buuuut I guess I understand why"

"We just really wanted to see him" Anna said politely, her eyes glued to the crying child.

"Thank you for not scolding us" Acnologia bowed in respect before he also stood looking at the little human being.

"Ahhh it's okay, since you're here to see my precious wrinkled kid" Nea chuckled wholeheartedly.

"Mom, let me see him" Zeref huffed impatiently.

"You want to hold him?" his mother asked and after a quick nod, gave the infant to him.

"He really does have pink hair, huh?" Acnologia stated not knowing what else to say.

"So cute" Anna stood inwardly squealing, her body twisting from side to side which caused her long hair to flow around her body.

"Natsu stop crying, you have nothing to feel sad about" Zeref said to the child in his arms, but of course that didn't work "Unless you feel gassy, do you feel the urge to fart?"

"Can I hold him?" Anna asked in an happy tone, earning a nod from the black haired kid before he handed the crying baby over to her. As she started talking to him in a soothing voice, it didn't take long before Natsu seemed to calm down, where he started whimper ever so slightly, as if he was too sleepy to voice his opinion.

"He really is something, huh?" Acnologia said while eyeing the kid suspiciously.

"I know" Anna beamed with happiness as her finger trailed against Natsu's soft chin.

"So small... I hope he doesn't grow up to be like Zeref, that would be a pain in the ass" the silver haired kid said, not caring that his insult caused his friend to sent him a furious looks.

"I wouldn't mind if Natsu becomes like his brother" Anna chuckled warmly, not caring that the baby was starting to drool profoundly.

"..." Acnologia face stiffened, oblivious to the small victorious giggle Zeref made.

"He really is amazing..." Anna continued as she looked down at the kid, her eyes glistening with happiness but strangely enough also sorrow.

"How can you say that, when there's drool all over his chin?" Acnologia wondered out loud, only to get a piercing glare from the girl "What?"

"Babies aren't born with etiquette, so they rely on instinct" Zeref stated knowingly before removing the liquid from his brother's face with a towel "Besides some people never stop drooling, I know someone who evidently tries to drown his pillow"

"Oy, I don't drool!" Acnologia huffed in annoyance.

"Stop arguing, here take him" Anna commanded the taller boy to take the kid, which he did.

"Ohh uhm... sure" feeling surprised and slightly uncomfortable, he looked down at the baby who made a few whimpering sounds, before falling asleep again.

"I think Natsu likes you guys" Nea smiled warmly at Zeref's friends.

"Thank you" Acnologia nodded politely.

"I hope we'll be friends in the future" Anna smiled wholeheartedly.

"I'm sure you will, you're both amazing kids" Nea affectionately patted their heads, causing them to blush.

"Heheh" the blonde girl giggled warmly, while Acnologia stood still trying to keep his cool.

"Mom, the mailman is here" Zeref noticed before someone knocked on the door.

"Ohhh my gosh, he's here with my order of chocolate shrimps!" Nea squealed loudly, before she stormed out the greet the visitor with her hands flailing wildly above her head.

"Chocolate... what?" Acnologia asked in a sceptic tone.

"Chocolate covered shrimps..." Zeref sighed and massaged the bridge of his nose "... don't ask"

"Your mom eats the weirdest things" Anna wiggled with her nose, earning a nod from the dark haired kid.

"Ohh well, even though I hope he becomes more like your mom, I really hope that's a trait your brother doesn't inherit" Acnologia said confidently as he raised Natsu up above his head "Ain't that right you little ugly creature"

"Don't insult my brother" Zeref said in a dark voice.

"What? It's not like he understands..." he was rudely interrupted as the baby choose that moment to vomit, causing white liquid to splash against Acnologia's face, who squealed in surprise.

"Serves you right" the dark haired kid started chuckling but it soon escalated into a laugh, which was pretty unusual. Hearing it Anna couldn't help but laugh as well, causing Acnologia to glare at the two of them in turn, looking not only pissed but also annoyed.

"Your brother is disgusting" the taller boy passed Natsu over to his older brother, before he made a snorting like sound as he stomped out to the bathroom.

"Ohh my, that was a magnificent sight to behold" Zeref smiled warmly towards the tiny child, who squirmed a bit before he started crying loudly.

"I'm coming!" Nea yelled and in a flash the mother had taken the baby, whom she did her best to calm down.

"That was fast..." Anna said in amazement.

"Mmm-hm" Zeref nodded stoically "The skills of a mother are almost super natural"

"I guess..." she shrugged.

"Ahhh..." Acnologia grumbled as he entered the room, while drying his hair with a towel "... I hope he's crying because he feels guilty"

"Nonsense, he does not have such emotions yet" Zeref denied, not catching the irony in his friend's tone.

"There, there Natsu" Nea gently rubbed her child's back, but it didn't seem to soothe him.

"God he really is loud, huh?" Acnologia grimaced looking rather uncomfortable.

"I bet he needs nourishment" Zeref placed a hand on his brother's head "Since he doesn't seem to be running a fever"

"Well he does have an incredible appetite, for someone so small" Nea chuckled warmly.

"I... uhm... Acnologia I guess we should get out of here, to give them some privacy" Anna suggested earning a nod from her friend.

"Ohh don't mind us, he just needs a little milk that's all" Nea sent them a huge smile.

"That's okay, I should get going anyway" the blonde girl bowed "It's been a pleasure seeing you Nea and Natsu"

"It was something..." Acnologia shook his head "See ya later Zeref, take care Nea"

They all exchanged their goodbyes and soon the two kids found themselves travelling down the road, beside each other. None of them said anything for a while, Acnologia thinking about nothing in particular, while the whole experienced kept replaying inside of Anna's head.

The love that Nea had shown the little baby and the attention Zeref showed him, caused her heart to beat at a faster pace, because there was something about it, that made something in inside of her long after something vital, that was missing in her own life.

 _To be hugged by a reliable parent, whom she could trust no matter what happened._

Her eight year old mind didn't put this longing into words, but she could instinctively feel that something inside of her was missing.

With her lips quivering, a few lonely tears trickled down her chins as they kept walking down the road. Anna tried her best to hide her sorrow, by taking slow and steady breaths, because she didn't want to trouble her friend by crying again. But since they had known each other since they were four years old, it was hard to keep that a secret from her friend.

"What is it?" Acnologia gently placed a hand on her shoulder, causing them both to stop.

"It's nothing..." she sniffled, using her sleeve to remove some snot.

"Then why are you crying?"

"I don't know..." Anna answered truthfully, as she started rubbing her eyes with the palm of her hands "... I... I'm just sad"

"Yeah, seeing that there might be a second Zeref makes me sad too" Acnologia smirked teasingly.

"Shut up..." she pouted and weakly hit his chest.

"Well if we're lucky and we do our best, he might turn into someone who resembles us" his smile widened "I mean having someone as funny and smart as you would be amazing, don't you think?"

"You think so?" Anna managed to smile through her tears, earning an eager nod.

"I know so" Acnologia gave Anna a tight hug, before rummaging through his pocket where he found a few coins "This should be enough"

"For what?" she sniffled and send him a curious look.

"We're gonna go buy some ice cream, that always cheers you up!"

"But..."

"Don't worry I have enough money for both of us" he gently grabbed her hand, which instantly made her feel a lot better.

She didn't know why, but when she held Acnologia or Zeref's hand she always felt safer.

Perhaps it was because they were the only stable people in her life, in which she truly trusted, because no matter what they would always be there for her. Just like she would always be there for them, no matter what happened...

* * *

 **A/N:** Gaaaah the kids are so cute ^^

I'm evil in this story I admit it and there'll be more wickedness coming in the future, soooo you can look forward to that.

Uhm... yeah! I hope you enjoy the story so far, keep tuned for the next part where we move forward a couple of years :)

/H


	3. Chapter 3

**Part III: Conspiracy**

About five years passed by without anything in particular happening. The tension between dragons and humanity was still there, but it was like it was at a standstill. However it was still a sore subject which could turn into a full blown war at any moment. Because of this Zack Dragneel kept meeting the dragon Haldrian in secret, as they tried figuring out a solution that would benefit both races, but no matter what they discussed something new seemed to happen, that would set their plans a few steps back.

To make things worse, there seemed to be a growing number of people inside the church itself, that started conspiring together in the dark. Zack tried to get an insight on this, but they were very secretive and always managed to get away from his watchful eyes.

In the meantime Zeref, Acnologia and Anna had turned into teenagers, as they reached their thirteenth year of age. This meant it was time to finish school and start on their own paths, where they had to seek out which branch they would pursue. For normal humans this meant seeking job opportunities while mages could seek out what sort of magic they had an affinity towards. Of course this was something they might have experimented with while growing up, but it wasn't until they were thirteen that they were allowed to learn it officially, especially if they wanted to become legal mages that used their powers on a professional level.

Natsu had turned five years old and because of that he was attending the same daycare that the other three kids had been in, when they were his age. It is here that the next part of the story slowly unfolds...

~ o ~ O ~ o ~

Acnologia had no idea how it happened, but for some reason he found himself trotting down to the daycare to fetch Natsu and take him home. It had something to do with Zeref's parents being too busy with their work at the church and his friend somehow persuading him to do it, because evidently Zeref had some school work he needed to finish.

 _Such a nerd,_ he grumbled to himself and before Acnologia knew it, he had opened the doors to his destination, the loud wall of children playing greeting him as he entered.

"Mooh..." complaining to himself he used both hands to straighten his ponytail, before walking further inside, the sight making him feel nostalgic for a second.

"Well hey there" Georgette suddenly spawned from out of nowhere making him jump in surprise. She looked like her usual self, almost as if time had done nothing to her. Sure she had aged, but it was nothing really visible.

"Uhm hey" he answered trying to regain his cool façade "I'm here to get Natsu"

"Ahhh yes of course! Oh, you lil' whipper snapper you're so big now!" Georgette smiled a toothy grin as she pinched his cheek "You're becoming quite the looker aren't cha?"

"Uh-huh" Acnologia answered allowing her actions at least for the moment.

"Natsu!" she called, letting go of his cheek in order to spot the tiny kid "It's time to go home!"

"Ohh!" a tiny squeaky voice called, before the pink haired kid emerged from some sort of hiding place in order to storm over to them.

Once he reached them the kid eyed Acnologia up and down, but didn't seem to pay it any more attention as he quickly started putting on his shoes and coat.

"I... I'm ready..." Natsu averted looking in their direction, looking down at his shoes "Can we go now?"

"Mmm..." gritting his teeth for a second Acnologia glared at the kid, who was obviously not comfortable about something.

"Well see ya soon!" Georgette said before leaving the two of them alone in the entrance.

Not saying anything Acnologia just watched the fidgeting kid who was way to eager to leave the place.

 _God damn it all, this really wasn't his territory..._

"Natsu..." Acnologia squatted down to be on eye level with the kid "... are you scared?"

"N-n-n-no..." he bit down his lips and shook his head "... just wanna go home..."

"Is someone bullying you?"

"Nuh-uh..." a few lonely tears streamed down his face "... I'm a big boy"

"The heck you are!" Acnologia snorted as he extended his hand and ruffled the kids hair "Who?"

"Ga... Gajeel..." Natsu whispered in a barely audible tone.

"Tsch!" a growl formed in his throat as he took long hard strides into the daycare room "Gajeel where are you?"

"I'm right here, what is it to you bub?" Gajeel who was clearly a few years older than Natsu appeared with a cocky attitude.

"Have you been bullying Natsu?" he asked bluntly, making the kid scoff in response.

"So what if I had? Ain't nothing you can do about it"

"Ohh you're wrong about that, kid" a dangerous and ominous aura surrounded Acnologia, as he cracked his knuckles.

"What..?" bewildered and starting to panic, Gajeel took a step backwards.

"Listen here and listen good" Acnologia hissed before he grabbed the tiny kids shirt, lifting him upwards until they were staring into each others eyes "You harm one single hair on that kid and I will kill you by tearing you apart piece by piece... you got that?"

"I'm... not scared of you" Gajeel whimpered trying to keep his cool.

"You should be" Acnologia widened his eyes looking rather insane for a second "After all I've gotten away with murder once, so I don't see why I shouldn't a second time"

"Gaaah! Get away from me!" the kid screamed with tears in his eyes, which Acnologia determined was enough before he let him go.

"Heh" snickering to himself he avoided the baffled Georgette, as he strolled over to Natsu who looked equally confused.

 _Guess he wasn't gonna be allowed to fetch Natsu again, huh?_

"Ahhh... Acno...?" the kid started saying but since the bigger kid didn't hear him, Natsu just followed the other person outside.

None of them said anything for a while as they walked down the streets. Acnologia looking stoic as always while Natsu looked absolutely torn. It seemed like he wanted to say something, because he would open his mouth from time to time, but for some reason he couldn't make it leave his lips.

 _God damn it all!_

Acnologia sighed loudly, before he stopped walking and looked down at the little runt.

"Why are we stopping?" Natsu asked, looking slightly baffled.

"Listen kid, in this world it's either kill or get killed" he said nonchalantly "That bastard Gajeel, is trying to get under your skin, because he thinks he's better than you. He ain't nothing but a lazy predator going after the weakest pray"

"But..." he flinched, his entire body trembling "... that means I'm weak"

"Yes" Acnologia nodded as he crouched down in front of Natsu.

"I'm gonna get killed..." tears welled up in his eyes again "... because... I'm not strong..."

"You will if you keep that attitude, you idiot" he flicked a finger the kid's forehead, causing him to whimper "If you want to deal with a bully, you need to get stronger than him"

"But..."

"Listen you might not be as strong as he is physically, but ya know what that doesn't matter. You just need to be smarter than him, then you'll have him wagging his tail like a puppy"

"Really?" Natsu answered clearly sceptic about the older boy's advice.

"Yeah..." Acnologia sighed loudly, knowing he would have to show the kid the ropes "... I can give you some advice, but don't tell your mom about it"

"Thank you!" Natsu exclaimed as he suddenly launched himself, capturing Acnologia's torso as he engulfing it in a tight hug.

"Ohh god..." the older kid's eyebrow twitched with annoyance, as he turned his head around hoping nobody important saw this little exchange "... you're completely destroying my street credit here..."

Of course the kid didn't care about that, instead he started crying ever so silently, all of his body trembling.

"Bloody hell..." Acnologia gently hoisted the kid further up, in order to pick him up. As he did Natsu instinctively removed his arms and placed them around the older kids neck, thereby making it easier to carry him.

"Let's go home, ya?" the older boy said as he started walking "You better have stopped crying once we get there, I don't want Zeref to get into his melodramatic mode"

"Mmm..." Natsu nodded against his chest, not saying anything else for the rest of the tour. Which made sense because at some point he had drifted off, causing him to lay perfectly silent while snoring and drooling.

"Disgusting..." Acnologia shook his head, feeling mildly annoyed about the huge pool of saliva on his shirt. Not that he minded really, but he would sure as hell complain about it once they reached their destination.

~ o ~ O ~ o ~

The sun had set outside, causing night to fall as stars started glistening in the sky.

As it got darker, the need for light inside grew more apparent, causing Zack Dragneel to light the fireplace but also multiple candles, making their small home lit in a comfortable way.

After eating dinner, they found themselves in the living room, Zeref reading one of his massive books, Natsu playing with his white pony plush, while his wife was knitting something that looked like socks.

The sight of them being so casual caused his heart to flutter with happiness, because it was times like these he valued the most. Especially because he was about to raise some hell for one certain kid, who would go crazy when he learned it was time to go to bed.

Taking a deep breath, Zack ruffled his semi long pink hair before he bent down next to Natsu, who was making weird noises as he pretended his pony called Horse could fly.

"You having fun?" he asked curiously.

"Aye! Horse just ate a mushroom and now he can fly!" Natsu said in an eager tone, before landing the plush on his father's face "Oh no, there was a huge dragon in the way! I hope it doesn't want to eat him?"

"Rawr!" Zack crocked his hands making them look like claws "The great tickling dragon will punish you for flying into his glorious face"

"You mean his ugly face?" the pink haired kid giggled wholeheartedly as he stormed away from his father with Horse in his hands.

"Ohhh I'm gonna get you!" Zack teased as he started chasing his son, who kept giggling like he was having the time of a lifetime.

"Mom, the dragon is gonna eat me!" Natsu said in an eager tone, before jumping up on his mother's soft lap.

"Not if I'm gonna eat you first" Nea said before rubbing her head against his belly while tickling his stomach, causing him to squeal loudly with laughter.

After a while she stopped, making Natsu lay heaving for air his cheeks completely red from all the laughing.

"Looks like mama dragon managed to eat our son" Zack chuckled warmly.

"I couldn't eat such a huge kid all by myself" Nea smiled before bobbing Natsu's nose with her finger "Besides it's time for this little fellow to go to bed"

"Noooo... mooooom!" he protested and started squirming "I'm not tired"

"She's right now come with me, we need to prepare you for bed" Zack said, earning a death glare from the pink haired kid.

"I can do that myself!" he answered in an insulted tone, before jumping down on the floor and stomping out to the bathroom.

Listening carefully, Zack made sure that his son followed the right procedures, before Natsu again returned to the living room wearing his blue pyjamas. He looked rather grumpy and annoyed causing his father to let out a sigh.

"You wanna hear a story about a dragon?" he asked, causing his son's eyes to widen with wonder.

"About... a real dragon?"

"Yes, about a real dragon"

The air around Natsu seemed to sparkle with anticipation and happiness as he ran over and quickly gave his mother a goodnight hug, before he raced into his and Zeref's room.

Following close behind Zack watched his son eagerly get underneath his blanket, where he hugged Horse closely against his chest.

"Is it a huge dragon? Oh-oh, is there more than one? Can it really fly? I heard all dragons can fly" Natsu ranted causing his father to chuckle.

"Easy now, you want me to answer questions or tell you the story?"

"Story!" the kid said in a determined tone while nodding.

"Very well, just remember this is a story for big boys, you think you can handle that?" he asked while ruffling Natsu's pink hair with his massive hand.

"Uh-huh... is it... scary?" his eyes widened with worry for a second.

"No, it's not that type of story" Zack smiled reassuringly.

"Neat!" was the quick response, as the pink haired kid gave his plush a tight squeeze.

"Okay" coughing briefly into his hand to clear his throat, he started the story "A long time ago there was a dragon called Quillnius, who was a very adventures dragon. He was a green dragon with huge golden eyes, he used to seek out all the knowledge he could gather.

This dragon was very clever and loved every living creature, so he wanted to go out into the world and explore what wonders there were out there. So one day the dragon said goodbye to his mom and dad, before he left the dragon capital"

"Dad?"

"Yes?"

"Is the dragon capitol real?"

"It is, but no humans has ever gone there before, because it exist somewhere high up in the sky where only dragons can go"

"Ohh..." Natsu wiggled his nose evidently mulling it over ".. I wanna go there someday!"

"But you can't fly, so how are you gonna get there?" Zack asked curiously.

"Then I'll just get my own pair of wings!" he nodded very eagerly "Yup, or I'll be friends with a dragon and then he'll take me there!"

"That's a good idea, remember to sent me a postcard from up there" Zack smiled warmly before poking his son's nose with his finger, earning a dissatisfied grunt from Natsu.

"Now Quillnius left the city and travelled all over the earth, seeing all of nature's most stunning sights. As he travelled he learned how even the smallest things is a part of something bigger. Like how one flower could be beautiful on it's own, but if there's thousands of them it would become even more wondrous.

The dragon was so curious that he searched everywhere high and low for new knowledge and before he knew it, decades had gone by. But still his greed for more wisdom wasn't satisfied, so he decided that he might find the greatest information of them all, if he studied humans.

Now humans didn't know how to respond to Quillnius, but after a while they learned to trust him. Once they did Quillnius would tell tales of the world, while the humans would explain how they saw the world.

The great dragon learned many things from the humans, including how to use his own magic as a way to heal stuff. You see Quillnius magic consisted of poison and because of that he never used it, because he didn't want to use a power that was meant to destroy stuff.

So he was grateful when he learned that poison could be used for something good, because he didn't want to destroy all the beauty that existed in the world.

But one day, when Quillnius was out in the forest searching for herbs, the humans he had grown to love as his own kind, was attacked by another clan. When he got back, all that was left was the burning houses which the humans had once lived in.

He did not understand this act of violence, nor the sudden hatred and anger that suddenly build inside his chest.

Quillnius had lost everything in such a small amount of time and it broke his heart.

From that day on, he vowed never to interact with humans nor dragons again, as he travelled into the deepest depths of the forest never to be seen again"

As Zack finished the story, he was surprised when his son started silently crying.

The kid didn't sob or make any sounds, he just laid perfectly still with tears trickling down his chins.

"Natsu" he gently rubbed his thumb against his son's chin, causing the kid to whimper "It's just a story"

"But he... he... had to live all alone" his voice cracked as the cry became more audible "That's so sad"

"I know, but that was his own choice"

"No... the bad people killed all of his friends" Natsu hulked looking miserable.

"But he could have made new friends" Zack suggested but the kid shook his head.

"They were bad..."

"Not everyone is evil, nor is everyone good" his father explained "remember when Zeref pushed you into the lake?"

"That was bad... I couldn't swim" Natsu sniffled loudly.

"But then he learned you how to do that" he gently patted his hair "Which was a good thing"

"Yeah..."

"So Quillnius chose to be alone, if he wanted he could have made new friends. Remember that Natsu, if you ever feel lonely know that there are loads of people out there who wants to be your friend"

"Really?"

"Really" Zack smiled encouragingly as he found a tissue in his pocket, which he placed against Natsu's nose "Now blow"

Doing as he was told, the kid emptied his nose for snot.

"Good boy" Zack curled the tissue into a ball and put it back into his pocket "Now it's time to sleep okay?"

"Mmm-hm" Natsu reached out his arms and engulfed his father in a hug.

"Goodnight" hugging his son back, he very gently rubbed his chin his son's pink hair.

"Daaaad, your beard is scratching meeee"

"I know" he laughed warmly and gave the kid's body a squeeze "Love you lil' buddy"

"Love you too dad"

"Now goodnight" Zack removed his arms and got up on his feet.

"Nighty night" Natsu answered as he got comfortable underneath the blanket.

Not saying anything else, Zack took the candle from their room and left his son alone.

For him the night was far from over and perhaps it wouldn't include any sleep, because the story had reminded him about of something important that he had to investigate, even if it was pretty late.

Entering the living room, he sent his wife an apologetic look, while placing the candle on the table.

"I know that look..." Nea let out a sigh and got up on her feet, before she strolled out to the kitchen.

"I'm sorry honey" Zack followed her and watched carefully as she started stuffing bread, fruit and some crackers inside a bag.

"It's fine" she sent him a warm smile and presumed with her task of filling the bag.

"I was telling Natsu about Quillnius and it reminded me about some folklore which I read a few months back that might relate to the law..."

"Shhh..." Nea hushed and placed her index finger against his lips "... it's okay, one of the reasons I married you is because I love your curious nature. Besides if I force you to stay you'll just run around all night, begging to get out like a dog that really needs to go"

Her smile widened for a second, causing Zack to just stand and stare as his beautiful voluptuous woman, finished her task and handed him the food.

"Now I'll take some leftovers from breakfast with me, you can heat with your magic" she placed her hands on her smooth, broad hips and looked up at the ceiling "I'm off tomorrow, so I could make some omelet's and perhaps even lunch for you. Mmm, but then I have to go to the cold room so I can marinade some fish..."

"You're too good to me" Zack smiled wholeheartedly before captured Nea's body , he then swung her around for a few seconds, earning a pearling laughter from the woman.

"My precious... wonderful... woman" he kissed her when uttering each word, causing Nea to blush from his gesture.

"Stop it you..." she wrapped her arms around his torso and placed her head against his chest.

"Mmm..." humming and feeling a million butterflies tickling in his stomach, he gently leaned his chin against her head while stroking her back with his hands "... my perfect moulded woman"

"What are you flattering me for?" she chuckled warmly before letting him go.

"I was just thinking how incredibly lucky I am to have such a fine looking wife" he flirted before kissing her mouth.

"And I think you should get going, before I decide it's time for the grown ups to play" she purred affectionately and swayed very seductively with her hips as she walked out and fetched his white rope.

Of course this had an immediate affection on Zack, who had to concentrate and focus on his task, so he didn't follow her up on that and threw her inside the bedroom for a night of fun times.

"You know you should be careful what you suggest?" he said in a low voice while putting the rope on.

"Well depending on how tired you are tomorrow, I could deliver the kid's at the daycare for a few hours" she threw her head to the side, her dark blue hair swaying smoothly around her body "Then we could go on a little adventure somewhere"

"You sassy little fox" he laughed warmly and gave her another kiss "We're not teenager any more"

"Heheh, you sure act like it when it comes down to that" Nea giggled warmly and pinched his butt.

"Oy!" Zack blushed at her accusation "I'll show you who acts like a teenager tomorrow!"

"Mmm-hm" she winked and bumped her hips into him "Just be ready for when we come, okay?"

"I will" he quickly put on his shoes and ran his fingers through his long hair "Sleep tight"

"Thank you, have a nice night"

"I'll try" he answered and left their home, following the road towards the village, before he eventually reached the Church of Man.

~ o ~ O ~ o ~

Zack had been working intensely almost ever since he arrived at the Church of Man, causing him to feel rather exhausted as he sat staring at the piles of books and papers on his desk.

"Mmm" he let out a dissatisfied grunt before taking a sip of tea.

 _The solution was right there in front of him, he just had to find it!_

Scratching his goatee, he let out another grunt as he looked down at his miserable handwriting.

Or some would call it art since it didn't look like normal letters.

"Wait..." he grabbed a book about Ancient Mythology and started flipping through it until he found a certain passage "... I see..."

Finding a new book, Zack used his hand to tug some of his long hair behind his ear, while scribbling down various important notes.

He was so consumed with this new development in his work, that Zack didn't hear anyone entering his office, but he was painfully aware of it when a bag was dragged over his head, making him gasp in surprise before a piece of rope was tightly wrapped around his neck, causing his throat to throb painfully.

"I suggest you corporate, unless you want to die" a deep voice whispered into his ear, as the tip of a knife was pushed into his back.

Zack nodded not daring to speak, as his thoughts started racing far and low, to figure out what the hell was going on.

"Get up" the unknown man ordered causing him to stand up. After that someone forcefully grabbed his arms and bent them behind his back, where his wrists was firmly tied together.

A pair of strong hands grabbed his left arm and started dragging him away somewhere, causing him to almost trip and fall a few times.

As they walked Zack tried to use his senses to get some idea about where they were going, but the rope against his neck was so tight that he couldn't focus on anything other than the pain being inflicted to his throat and how hard it was to get sufficient oxygen to enter his lungs.

It didn't take long before they were outside, where they walked through what he assumed was some alleyways to avoid detection, before he suddenly felt something that felt like grass that licked up against his ankles.

For him it felt like they walked for a small eternity, before the person guiding him let go and pushed him down, making Zack fall down on his knees, the impact causing his knees to get scraped against the ground.

After that the bag was ripped off his head, before they removed the rope from his neck, which instinctively caused him to take a deep breath, but the fresh air he inhaled felt like it contained small pieces of glass, that tore his throat to shreds, which made him cough rather violently to try and make the pain go away.

 _God damn it,_ he cursed until the fit eventually subsided, making him turn his head upwards so he could see his enemy through the hair that was dangling down in front of his face.

There were four people in total standing right in front of him, all of them wearing black ropes that hid their facial features.

 _Cowards_ , Zack defiantly spat a lump of saliva in their direction, making it splatter against the grass in front of their feet.

"You're way in over your head you bloody piece of shit!" a man growled before grabbing a fistful of his pink hair, he forcefully yanked backwards, causing a grunt of pain to escape Zack's lips.

"What the hell are you talking about?" he countered, his eyes narrowing as he hoped to identify the man.

"You should know your place" the unknown man hissed, causing droplets of saliva to land on Zack's face "We know what you've been doing behind our backs with that filthy dragon!"

His heartbeat seemed to stop for a second, when he realised what was going on. This had to be the same people who they suspected of conspiring within the Church of Man, who might be about to rebel against their cause.

"What dragon?" he answered carefully, but evidently that wasn't a satisfying answer as a massive fist smashed directly into his cheek with so much force he almost fell over. In fact the hit caused a few teeth to loosen, making blood spawn inside his mouth, that he in a very passive aggressive manner let flow past his lips before it landed with a thud on the ground.

"What dragon?" a new guy mocked childishly "What dragon do you think we're talking about, idiot?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about" he denied, a growl of anger forming in his throat.

"You bloody traitor!" the person who had been teasing him reached inside his rope and brought forth a dagger, that glistened faintly in the moonlight as he walked over and bent down in front of the captivated man "You know I should just end you right now, you don't deserve being in his grace's presence"

Zack was about to question who that might be, when the atmosphere seemed to become more dark and wicked, like something unnatural had emerged from somewhere and was coming in their direction.

It was so wrong and evil, he instinctively felt frightened to his core, causing an unpleasant shiver to run down his spine.

 _What was going on?_ He questioned as the hooded men started bowing, their faces being mere centimetres above the ground.

All of a sudden the contours of a massive dragon spawned above his head, it's scales almost looking like small stars, as the tips of it's pitch black scales had a tiny amount of silver which made the soft moonlight reflect in them.

A deafening roar boomed right above their head as the dragon circled around them a few times, before it elegantly landed down in front of them, the earth quivering from the massive weight of the huge creature.

Zack didn't move an inch as his gaze was transfixed on the dragon, almost as if the sight had hypnotised him into sitting perfectly still, the only thing moving on him was his huge frightened eyes that eyed the creature up and down.

He couldn't even think straight, causing his thoughts to be completely blank as the echo of his pumping heart started pounding inside his head in a rather sickening way, like it was beating to the tone of his own damnation.

The men didn't move from their bowing position, but kept sitting there like the ground was suddenly the most fascinating thing in the world.

Since nobody said or did anything the silence almost felt deafening, especially when the black dragon bent down it's massive head and took a few deep breaths as it evidently smelled his scent for some reason.

 _What the heck is going on?_ Zack gulped loudly, trying to use his saliva to make his tongue feel less dry.

"You reek of dragon" the black creature growled as it raised it's head proudly above all humans.

"So it is true?" one of the cloaked men uttered in a shivering tone "Ralarth, you are certain of this?"

"Did I not make myself clear?" the dragon sent the man an intimidating look, causing said person to bow down again, where he started chanting an apology.

"Who is this traitor, that dared conspire with you?" Ralarth growled impatiently, his silver eyes shining with unrestricted wrath.

"There is no traitor" Zack answered trying not to reveal the anger that was starting to burn underneath his skin.

"You will answer me" the dragon demanded with a hiss.

"I did" he countered with a smirk "There is no traitor"

"Mmm..." Ralarth seemed to mull it over for a second before continuing "... then who did you seek council with?

"Why would I tell you that?"

This caused Ralarth to let out a booming laughter, that caused an involuntary shiver to run down Zack's spine.

"I fail to see why you find that amusing" frowning he sent the reptile a challenging look.

"You're an interesting piece of meat" Ralarth opened his mouth and slowly licked his sharp teeth "It isn't often the sheep dares to challenge the wolf"

"Is that so?" Zack raised his eyebrow as he started questioning the dragon's logic.

"Humans leave us alone, I'll deal with him myself" Ralarth snarled causing the gathered people to flinch, before scattered as he had commanded.

"What is your deal?" he shook his head, trying to remove some stray pink hair from his face.

"It's simple" the dragon smiled wickedly "I use these pathetic people to get an insight on what's going on within the Church of Man, while they provide me with rather useful information, I can use to reach my own goal before the war erupts"

"Why would they help you?" Zack asked because it didn't make any sense to him.

"Because they want a bright future, where they don't have to be scared of becoming a dragon's next meal"

"But that contradicts your own ideals, so why would they follow you?" he started twisting, feeling rather uncomfortable. Sure his muscles was starting to ache from being restrained, but the dragon was starting to come off as slightly insane which made the situation more dangerous, since his actions would be more unpredictable.

"So it would seem to an ignorant person" Ralarth stated in a knowing tone "However following the promise of a peaceful future, is enough to convince any rational being. We don't need a world where we coexist with each other, but a place where we respectfully honour our differences. Sure we might come off as the bad guys for viewing you humans as nothing more than a meal to satisfy our own needs, but is it really that different than how you acquire your own food? Do you question the morality in slaying a rabbit to get food on your plate?"

"That's not the same, we're logical thinking beings who just want to live without fearing for our lives"

"Do you think we're any different?" Ralarth snorted impatiently "Even if we were to stop feasting on humans, do you think that would prevent people from using the errors of the past to stop hunting my brothers and sisters? Nonsense! You would hunt us down to gather our magical powers, that our bodies poses for your own selfish reasons and you would allow this action, by using some righteous justification about getting even"

"You bastard, how dare you belittle our intelligence and moral codes" Zack gritted his teeth firmly together, as he got up on his feet "To ensure our future we would do almost anything, even sacrifice our own lives"

"So you say" the dragon bowed his head, a hint of sadness glistening in his eyes "And so it shall be as the person who tried to find a solution dies by the kind he sought to cooperate with"

"What are you talking about?" he felt a few droplets of cold sweat trickle down his skin, as there was a sudden tension in the air.

"Stand tall human, have pride in knowing that you will be a symbol for our cause" the dragon snickered wickedly.

"There ain't no way in hell I'll become that!" he shouted angrily his stomach burning with intense hatred

This seemed to amuse Ralarth for some reason, as his smile seemed to widen causing his huge saliva covered teeth to glisten in the moonlight.

Zack saw something weird that seemed to sparkle to his side, but he didn't realise what it was before something massive suddenly dug into his flesh, the force behind the impact being so strong that his body was sent flying a few metres, before it crashed against the ground where it rolled around for a bit, before he eventually laid perfectly still.

"Gaaah!" he gasped as a huge amount of liquid suddenly spouted out of his mouth.

All of his body hurt so freakishly much that he felt like he was seconds away from fainting, but still he managed to look down to see three distinctive claw marks, that had cut so deep that blood was quickly pouring out of it, soaking the ground with it's crimson colour.

The intense pain and knowing he was in dire situations, caused him to scream intensely, the sound emitting so much feelings it sounded like he was being tortured. In some aspects he was, since various thoughts spawned inside his mind, both about his family, but also about how he had failed everything and everyone.

Being in such a huge emotional turmoil of pain and distress, Zack barely registered the dragon grabbing his body with it's huge claw, nor that Ralarth had taken flight making them both sore through the night sky.

Slowly he could feel how each and every cell of him started to become motionless, as the pain subsided replacing it with a weird coldness.

For some reason Zack was fully aware of how blood kept flowing out of his mouth, making it trickle down his chin before forming into droplets that vanished underneath him. This made him think about Natsu who always drooled whenever he slept, which had sometimes resulted in Zack's clothes getting drenched sometimes. This comparison and knowing how grim the situation was, made him laugh in a rather sickening way on the bridge of it turning hysterical.

The dragon didn't say anything to this and eventually his laughing stopped, leaving both of them in silence as they flew through the night.

"Ralarth can I ask you a favour?" Zack enquired in a weak voice.

There was silence for a minute before the dragon finally answered "What is it human?"

"Please don't place me in a crowded area..." he bit down his bottom lip before continuing "I want to spare the innocent kids of seeing..."

"If that is your final wish, then I shall grant your request" Ralarth answered in a stoic tone.

"Thank you" he answered feeling grateful.

"We all want to protect our young ones, from the darkness of this world" the dragon said sounding mildly sympathetic "Humans, dragons... even though we do things differently, it's all to ensure the future for the next generation"

"Yes..." Zack sighed loudly, thinking about his innocent sons who he failed to protect from the war, that might soon begin between the two factions.

It was all so good damn unfair and stupid, because there had to be a solution to avoid it. After all didn't they have the same goal in the end? To make a peaceful place for their loved ones?

Had he succeeded in doing anything that would lead towards that?

Was all he did for nothing?

His mind was broken and shattering into pieces, causing a few tears to run down his blood soaked chins.

Nothing mattered in the end... nothing at all...

Zack was in despair and kept silent until they eventually reached the village, where Ralarth silently flew around the Church of Man a few times, before he dived down into a narrow alleyway where he carefully placed Zack against one if the church's wall.

"Thank you" he said in a weak tone, earning a nod from the massive dragon who flew away leaving him to die alone.

Feeling both weak and cold, he could feel how life gradually slipped away from his body as his vision became more and more blurry, to a degree he was almost completely blind. He was somewhat aware of his own thoughts that also seemed to turn into an echo that aimlessly rummaged through his mind not turning into something concrete or an actual thought.

Images of his beloved family mixed with irrelevant stuff, turning it into an odd mix that didn't make any sense.

So cold, both physically and mentally Zack took one final breath before everything vanish around him, causing him to slump together as life vanished from his body.

~ o ~ O ~ o ~

It was a good day... no scratch that, it was an incredibly, over the top super amazing day!

Or so Natsu thought to himself, as he wolfed down his breakfast hoping they would get to the next step quicker, if he was a good kid and got ready without complaining.

"My, my that was fast" his mom complimented, but he didn't listen s he quickly sprinted out of the kitchen and out to the bathroom, in order to brush his teeth. Once that was over with he quickly fetched his shoes and put them on, before he stormed back to his mom, his back completely straight, with a huge proud smile on his face.

"You're ready to go?" she asked with a bemused expression on her face.

"Yup!" Natsu's smile widened "Can we go now? Pleeeeease?"

"Well go fetch your brother he's outside milking the cow" she said and in the blink of an eye, the tiny kid rushed outside. He didn't run for long when he spotted his older brother carrying a huge bucket of milk, his face looking red from carrying the heavy object.

"Zeeereeeef!" Natsu called while bouncing up and down "We need to goooo, now!"

"Yeah, yeah let me just get this inside, kay?" he answered while walking towards the cool room, that contained all their fresh food "Don't want dad to get mad again"

"Mmm... kay" he followed his brother close behind, remembering how his dad had momentarily gone bonkers, when they forgot the milk outside.

 _Scary... his dad could be utterly scary..._

Once Zeref had safely placed the milk in it's rightful place, they walked back towards the kitchen, Natsu all the way walking right behind his big brother.

"Will you please stop that" Zeref said in an annoyed tone.

"With what?" Natsu asked sincerely.

"Walking behind me like that"

"But... it's fun!"

"You're copying how I walk and it isn't funny!"

"Sure it is!"

"Gaaah, you're such an idiot!" Zeref rolled with his eyes, not in the mood for a debate.

After that they quickly met up with their mom and after that they started their way down towards their destination in the village.

"Hey... mom, mom!" Natsu called, his inside burning with excitement "You think dad is sleeping on his desk again? And, and, and do you think he has that candy that I like?! Or... perhaps!" he stopped to squeal loudly "He'll let me play with the statues and we'll paint moustaches on them!"

"... I don't think that's plausible..." Zeref said, sounding mildly annoyed.

"But we did that a while back when time no one was around and... whoops!" he clasped his hands above his mouth "... I forgot that's a secret"

"So it was him!" their mom gasped "I knew he might have done it after that argument he had with the leader but still..." she sighed "... that man will never grow up, will he?"

"That's because he's an idiot too..." Zeref whispered to himself.

"Moooooom!" Natsu pointed at his brother "He just called dad an idiot!"

"No I didn't!" he argued back "Don't lie!"

"But you said it!"

"Say that one more time and I'll hit your face!"

"Like I'm scared of you! Bleeeh!" Natsu wiggled his tongue teasingly, making a small vein pop on his brother's head.

"Ohh you asked for it you... you... fart eating baby face!" Zeref argued back as he started chasing his little brother towards the village.

"Geheheh!" Natsu laughed wickedly, running through a few narrow passages and in between people, using his smaller size to become invisible in the crowd and before long he had lost his persuader.

"Stupid Zeref..." he smiled to himself, a small look of mischief on his face "... I'm gonna get to dad first and tell him, that he called him an idiot..."

His head filled with a lot of impossible and silly ways his father would punish his brother, which ultimately ended in his dad crowning Natsu as his favourite son, before giving him a lot of sweet, delicious candy, which he would eat while his brother was crying in the corner.

 _Hah! That would show him who was the best son!_

Feeling determined, he raced as fast as his little feet could carry him until he reached the Church of Man.

"Hyya!" he exclaimed with a smile of victory on his face "Hahah! Now that'll show him!" his eyes darted around the area when he got the idea to hide himself from them, causing him yet again to take flight, before he found himself running down an alleyway.

It smelled super weird and not like garbage, causing his curiosity to get evoked, as he carefully looked around.

Even though it was rather dark, he soon spotted a huge amount of weird liquid that had gathered in a pool underneath something.

Instinctively knowing that something was very wrong, Natsu looked closer at the thing on the ground until he realised it was a man who was sitting down on the ground, his back resting against the white façade of the church.

There was blood everywhere, not only from the huge gaps of torn flesh, but it was smeared all over his skin. Just looking at the torn flesh and how the raw meat was visible in three distinctive cuts, made Natsu sick to his stomach, but there was something about it that made him stand frozen instead of running away.

 _Pink... it was pink..._

His heart started to drum fast and almost painfully in his chest as he took a few unsteady steps towards the man.

 _No... it couldn't be..._

But it was... he could recognise his facial features, even when he was brutally beaten up like this.

"Dad..." he whispered in a small voice as he carefully placed himself in front of him "... say something"

He received no answer, so Natsu started crawling up on his legs, not minded the blood that soaked his own clothes, as he placed his tiny hands on his dad's cheeks.

"Please..." tears started to form in his eyes, as he started shaking his father's head but still there was no reaction.

"Zeref called you an idiot..." he sniffled loudly "... you need to scold him..."

Tears was now freely streaming down Natsu's chins and for some reason it was becoming harder to breathe properly. But he didn't care as he snuggled up against his dad, where he carefully rested his head against his father's chest.

 _There was no heartbeat... in fact his dad felt so very cold._

"Are you freezing, dad?" he clutched some of the fabric of his father's rope inside his hands and clenched it firmly until his knuckles turned white "That's it isn't it?"

Of course he knew that wasn't the case, but the truth was too much for his little childish mind to handle.

"Don't worry..." he whispered in a shaky voice before taking his father's arm and placing it around his own body "... I'll warm you... I'll protect you while you take a nap... we... protect each other, right?"

His small mind couldn't handle any more, making it snap into a million pieces as he laid crying against his father's cold chest, his tears landing with small thuds on the unresponsive person underneath him.

He didn't register anything, not the smell of blood that made his insides curl in an unpleasant way, nor the fact that his now soaked clothes was starting to make his own body colder, making him shiver even more as he sat alone in the darkness.

At some point he was found by someone, but since he was so distraught and utterly traumatised he didn't register it.

* * *

 **A/N:** Gosh darn it this was hard to get through… f***! I loved Zack so much... well I did warn you that this wouldn't be a happy story all the time, but... sorry anyway (heheh...heh).

Ahem, either way I'm sorry for not updating this story in a while, there were some real life stuff that got in the way -.-

Also, for those wondering about it, I started this story ages ago, so I'm not following the lore as closely as I could have after the latest reveals in the manga.

I'm off to go hug my Happy and Natsu plushie, I think they need some comfort *sniff, sniff*

Have a good day peoples :)

/H


	4. Chapter 4

**Part 4: Moving Forwards**

The death of Zack Dragneel caused many unfortunate things to happens, one of them was within his family who was left with an odd and uncomfortable atmosphere. Surely they would get over it in time, but right afterwards it was a struggle for all of them.

It also had a huge effect within the Church of Man, since it was evident that there was more to his murder than meet the eye. Some individuals were outraged by his death, especially because the culprit was obviously a dragon. Others were driven by the thirst for revenge, making them shout and turn on each other, causing different riots to happen within the circle. Former friends were suddenly seen as potential enemies, as their ideals clashed with each other.

It was chaos and it all escalated so fast that it was either fight or flight. They needed a voice of reason that could unite them again, or the Church would fall apart by it's roots. This was especially true since a vast amount of people wanted revenge and had enough of being idle bystanders, so if something didn't happen soon these people use drastic methods satisfy their thirst for the enemies blood.

It was at that time Anna took it upon herself to make a stand. To forget about her own heartache as she tried with all her might to unite the people who was so torn apart. Of course this took a toll on not only herself, but also her sons whom she had to neglect as she tried ensuring that a war wouldn't break out, from within her own ranks.

Fortunately people were willing to stop fighting and listen to her. After all it was her husband who had died, so if she could continue working for a common course, why couldn't everyone else?

Sure some seemed to be reluctant to follow her lead, resulting in some minor clashes but it fortunately didn't cause something too drastic to occur, even though the thread from it happening was lingering just underneath the surface.

~ o ~ O ~ o ~

After his father's death, Natsu felt himself becoming more and more inverted resulting in him barely interacting with others. Sure he would talk with his mom, whenever she was home and occasionally he would even try to tease his older brother, but he didn't give it as much heart as he used to.

When he was at the daycare he choose to play by himself and never talked to any of the other kids. For some reason their childish attitude annoyed him, causing him to sneer and scream whenever they came close to him.

Of course this made Georgette worry about his well being and consult with his mother, but none of them knew what to do about the situation.

The only people Natsu seemed to be somewhat okay with was Acnologia and Anna, so it was often one of the two, who went to fetch him at the daycare. For some reason the little pink haired kid opened up ever so slightly with the other teens, so Nea decided to ask them to get him if it wasn't too much trouble. Of course they were fine with that, or well Acnologia acted like it bothered him a bit, but he could never say no to Nea.

It was one of these days, that the pink haired kid found himself walking in silence besides the much taller Acnologia, who seemed to take pleasure in the quiet moment.

 _Which was fine, Natsu wasn't in the mood for small talking about stupid stuff anyway..._

Letting out a yawn, the small kid felt somewhat exhausted as they kept walking.

One of the other kids at the daycare had tried to steal his plush, which caused Natsu to bite the boy so hard it left deep teeth marks. That earned him some scolding but he didn't care, there weren't anyone who would get away from taking something that was precious to him.

 _Never again..._

Narrowing his eyes, Natsu let out a groan expressing how dissatisfied he actually felt.

"Hey kid?" Acnologia said in a calm tone.

"Yeah?" the kid answered.

"Georgette told me what you did today"

That caused him to jolt in surprise, before he shrugged lazily as if it didn't bother him.

"You can't go biting other people, you runt" the taller kid sighed "That ain't nice"

"I don't care" Natsu snorted defiantly "he deserved it"

"Bloody hell..." taking a deep breath Acnologia stopped in his tracks "... you and your brother are fucking morons"

"What...?" the kid's eyes widened with surprise.

"I said you're morons!" to empathise his sentence he pointed a finger towards Natsu "How long are you guys gonna go moping around, being freakishly emo?"

"Emo? Isn't that a bird?"

"Argh!" ruffling his shoulder lengthened silver hair, Acnologia groaned in frustration "Can't you guys just grow a pair or something?!"

"I have a pair!" Natsu countered feeling rather insulted "You're the one who doesn't have one, Anna told me so!"

"What?" his jaw dropping since he didn't know what to say to that. Because of that Acnologia was caught unprepared when Natsu suddenly jolted in his direction and landed a firm kick into his crotch, which caused the teen to let out a very high-pitched scream before falling down on the ground, where he curled into a whimpering ball.

"Uhm..." instantly regretting his sudden actions, Natsu stood with his lips quivering unsure what to do next, as he just watched the older kid, who was expressing his misery through a lot of noises.

"Jezz..." breathing through his teeth Acnologia sent the pink haired kid a look that could make an entire army retire on the spot "... what the fuck gives, you stupid brat?"

"I... I..." feeling absolutely horrible about himself, Natsu felt the energy leave his body, causing his knees to buckle underneath him, as he started crying his eyeballs out "I'm s-s-s-s-sorry!"

"God..." slamming his head against the ground, the silver haired kid started muttering a lot of indecent words the kid couldn't hear.

"I... didn't mean to hurt you" he whimpered loudly, while placing his hands above both eyes "I just.. got so angry..."

"You have a lot of that inside you don't ya?" Acnologia asked with a hint sympathy.

"Uh-huh..." he nodded, trying to get the snot back into his nose by sniffing loudly.

"I see..." taking a deep breath the teenager placed one of his arms underneath his head, using a hand to rest on it "... there's a solution for that"

"No..." Natsu shook his head clearly not believing him.

"I can teach you" Acnologia said in a serious tone.

"How?" he hiked sending him a sceptic look.

"By training, hard and long, I can show you the ropes but it ain't gonna be easy"

"Re-really?"

"Sure, perhaps getting you into shape will help your idiotic older brother too" he sighed before flopping over on his back where he laid staring at the sky.

"You're the best!" Natsu exclaimed with happiness before he threw his body down on top of Acnologia and started hugging him so tightly, that the older kid was struggling to breathe.

"It's okay" he gasped loudly "Just let me go"

"Yay!" loosening his grip Natsu rubbed his head against Acnologia's chest in a very cat like manner "Thank you! You're the best!"

"I know"

With that settled, Acnologia would from that moment on become Natsu's personal trainer, who would show him how to use his anger as a force to be reckoned with if he aimed it towards an enemy and not a comrade. In fact he even learned the kid how to let it all out, by doing something so basic as chores. Which Natsu took to heart, so when he was carrying the barrel of milk to the cold room, he didn't just move it. No, he kept chanting how he would do it in such an amazing way, that the chances of it going sour was close to none.

Of course that wasn't how it worked in real life, but it was a way of thinking that slowly but surely made him come to terms with his loss.

~ o ~ O ~ o ~

It had been another day at school for Anna with nothing truly outstanding happening. Which fitted her perfectly because she quite enjoyed normality.

Following the path she had walked so many times, she soon found herself in front of her house.

To her surprise there were some weird noises coming from the backyard, causing her to curiously but also with some caution, to follow the sound.

"Dad?" she called when spotting said person standing with an axe hitting a tree "What are you doing?"

"Nothing!" he yelled angrily "And I'm gonna do a whole lot of nothing for a while!"

"Ohh..." not knowing what to say to that she bit down her bottom lip, identifying his behaviour right away.

 _What an early time to get drunk, huh?_

"God damn it!" John growled before slamming the axe into the ground, sending dirt and rocks flying.

"Is... is something wrong?" Anna asked cautiously, folding her hands in front of her.

"Bloody hell something is wrong!" he shouted before sluggishly walking over to fetch a bottle he had placed in the grass "Damn it!"

"I'm sorry" she said feeling her insides shiver with fear and sadness.

"The hell you are" bringing the bottle up to his mouth he hungrily drank from it "Gaaah"

"Are you hungry?" of course he wouldn't be, but she had to ask him something to make the situation less unpleasant.

"The heck are you mocking me?!" John snarled before walking over to her.

"No, of course not!" she gulped loudly, taking a step backwards.

"You know I got fired didn't you?" he growled "That's why you're already blaming me for not being able to bring home money for food, is that what you're saying?!"

"What?" her eyes widened with surprise "No I didn't know that, I'm sorry"

"Of course you are, having a miserable and useless father like me" John grabbed her arm, causing a whimper to escape her lips.

Anna felt so frightened, more than she had ever felt before in a similar situation, because even though her father had anger issues, it was seldom he did more than give her a few slaps.

"Stupid brat..." he tightened his hold on her arm, causing her to wince from the sudden pain.

"Please dad, stop it" she said in a fragile tone, but it didn't work. On the contrary it made him snap as he slapped her chin, causing her to scream in pain and fright.

"Know your place, you insolent child!" John threw his bottle away before grabbing her other arm "This is all your god damn fault!"

"I'm sorry..." Anna cried but it did nothing to soothe her dad.

"Ohh you will be..." his eyes darkened and just like he said, she would be very sorry indeed...

~ o ~ O ~ o ~

Feeling confused, hurt and heartbroken Anna eventually managed to get away from her father, causing her to stagger on the road towards the village.

She didn't know how badly wounded she was, but her entire body felt sore. One of her ankles had taken a blow as well, making it hurt like it was filled with broken glass that stabbed her from the inside, whenever she took a step. Her left arm was useless as well and she suspected her bone had cracked somewhere.

Panting and breathing heavily she eventually made her way to her destination where she slumped down next to a fountain, that was placed in the town centre.

"Hah..." sitting down next to it she just sat there, not knowing what to do or what to feel, as people walked by, leaving her in her misery.

 _Well why wouldn't they, her wounds weren't visible. At least not yet..._

"Anna?" a childish voice suddenly spoke, causing her to jump in surprise.

"Ohh hey Natsu" she replied in a hoarse voice "What are you doing here all alone?"

"I'm on my way home" he seemed dejected for a second, but immediately lit up "No one could follow me today, so I'm going back all on my own"

"Heh, good for you" Anna tried smiling, but she couldn't truly commit to it.

"What's wrong?" he looked at her clearly concerned.

"I'm okay" she tried ensuring him, but it was hard keeping up the façade when she felt so fragile.

"You're hurt..." he pointed at her swollen cheek "... did someone bully you?"

"I guess you could say that"

"Hey, I know what will make you feel better! Mom has a jar filled with cookies at home and even though I'm not allowed to eat them, I can steal some for you" he extended his hand, while smiling widely.

"Yeah? You know what that sounds great" she smiled sadly and grabbing his hand. It took a little longer to get there due to her limping, but fortunately the kid didn't question her nor complain about it.

Once they got there Anna sat down on the couch and was catered by Natsu, who eagerly found the cookies but also some milk, which they shared as he sat babbling about nothing and everything.

It was actually quite enjoyable, until the entrance door suddenly barged open, causing her to jump in surprise, her entire body trembling with fear as her eyes quickly scanned the room as a primal sort dread and terror was evoked inside of her.

 _No it couldn't be him..._

Her entire body seemed paralysed when she heard the voices of Acnologia and Zeref, which caused her to let out a breath, Anna didn't even know she was holding.

As she sat waiting for her friends to enter the room, Natsu suddenly crawled up and stood beside her, his arms extending to the sides.

"You're such a nerd!" Acnologia sighed "We don't need more homework we need less"

"To further develop our minds we need nourishment" Zeref said in a bored tone.

"Ahhh shut up" the taller man groaned in frustration.

"You should go" Natsu growled all of a sudden, causing the two boys to give him a bewildered look "Leave us alone"

"Huh?" Zeref seemed the most surprised when he noticed his brother's fuming form standing in front of his friend "Anna is that you?"

"Ye-yeah" she managed to stutter.

"What are you doing here?" Acnologia asked as he took a few steps forwards, before noticing her shivering body "What happened?"

"Nothing really..." she looked down at her feet, feeling incredibly small and like she wanted nothing more than to sink into the surface of the couch, making her vanish from existence.

"You're badly bruised" Zeref stated in a neutral tone, but his face revealed his surprise.

"Harm her and I'll bite you!" Natsu snarled at the two older teens.

"We would never do that" his older brother sounded mildly offended as he walked over to them "She's our precious friend you know that"

"Mmm... hmm" bloating his cheeks, the tiny kid seemed to accept that answer as he sat down next to Anna, watching every single movement Acnologia and Zeref made.

"What the hell happened?" the taller teen crossed his arms looking rather pissed.

"Nothing... I was just.. clumsy..." she tried smiling but it was rather obvious they didn't buy that excuse.

"Let me see..." Zeref said before he started investigating her body "... mmm, I'm pretty sure your ankle is twisted... the upper bone in your left arm appears to be broken... the rest is bruised badly, but there doesn't seem to be anything else that has been damaged"

"What is your verdict then?" Acnologia asked in a dark voice.

"She was clearly in a battle... or beaten" Zeref said in voice that had a hint of anger to it, causing her heart to skip a beat especially once he grabbed her hand "Anna you need to tell us what happened"

"I... I can't" shaking her head she sent her friend an apologetic look.

"Either way we should get her to the doctor, even if we all know who did this" the silver haired teen snorted, before he made his way over to her "I always knew that bastard was a bloody ticking time bomb"

"It's not what you think " Anna shook her head as tears started trickling down her chins "I really was just clumsy and... feel down some stairs"

"You insult my intelligence" Zeref sighed before wrapping his arms around her and hugged her ever so gently "Your wounds are inconsistent with that excuse"

"Tsch!" Acnologia rolled his eyes "We can discuss this later, let's go get her patched up. I mean those wounds gotta hurt like hell"

"It's not that bad" Anna reassured him, even if the truth was something else. Because sure it hurt, but due to her emotional struggles, it almost felt like a relief she was having physical pain.

"I'll go prepare the cart!" Natsu volunteered before storming out of the room, to go do what he had to do.

"Can you walk by yourself?" Zeref asked politely, earning him a nod.

"Sure, I mean I made it all the way..." she started but was interrupted by Acnologia who roared a firm "Nope!" causing Anna but also Zeref's eyes to widen in surprise.

"What the heck is wrong with you?" the black haired kid said in an annoyed tone.

"If she has a twisted ankle, then there's no way in hell she should walk on it" he answered the two "I mean I ain't no expert, but it just seems like it could make things worse"

"Ahh... yes, I didn't consider that fact" Zeref nodded eagerly before sending him a sly look "And here I thought your deductive skills were close to zero"

"Oy!" Acnologia glared at his friend, who giggled warmly in response.

"Anyway..." coughing into his hand the taller boy squatted down next to Anna, his cheeks blushing ever so slightly "... just this once I'll carry you, so don't you dare try turning it into a habit"

"Thank you" she smiled sincerely at him, as he managed to hoist her up into his arms.

"Yeah-yeah..." he answered while carrying her outside where Natsu stood eagerly bouncing, besides the wooden cart. Inside of it were a few pillows, a water bottle plus a few blankets.

"Let me!" the kid removed the blankets, before Acnologia gently placed her in the cart. Once that was over with Natsu placed the blanket above her, before he smoothly got into it as well, sitting at the other end opposite from her.

"This is actually rather comfortable" Anna complimented the pink haired boy who smiled warmly back at her.

"Uh-huh!" he sneaked his legs underneath the blanket as well, where he sat rummaging for a bit before raising something in his arms.

"What is that?" she asked curiously before he threw it over to her "Ohh! I remember him, his name is Cat"

"Ey, isn't that Zeref's old plushie?" Acnologia asked curiously before poking the soft item.

"Why did you bring that one along?" the dark haired kid let out a groan, clearly not satisfied with his brother.

"Because she needs a plushie to comfort her" Natsu said as if that was common knowledge "Look Anna, I have one too!" he eagerly showed her a pony, that looked incredibly soft.

"Kids these days..." Acnologia grumbled as he started pulling the cart down the road, that led towards the village.

"Uh-huh..." Zeref agreed as he walked besides the silver haired kid, where they resumed the conversation they had earlier, about homework and what a perfect amount would be.

Anna didn't say a lot but nodded and came with the correct response to whatever Natsu was saying or explaining. The amount of energy that kid had always surprised her and the things he had to say was almost limitless. Which was great in that situation, because she didn't feel much like talking.

After getting to the village it didn't take long for them to reach the doctor's office, where Acnologia carried her inside.

Just like Zeref had predicted earlier, her ankle was twisted and her left arm was indeed broken, while the rest of her wounds were more or less superficial. A healer took care of the minor wounds, while her ankle was bandaged because there was a higher chance of her twisting it again or otherwise doing harm to it, until it was fully recovered.

The same was the case with her arm, all though she would have to be super careful with it, so it didn't break again.

After that the little group soon found themselves outside, where they started their way back to the Dragneel's place. Or well they walked a few metres, before Acnologia forced them to stop.

"What now?" Zeref stopped pulling the cart, who contained his very sleepy younger brother, who was out cold and snoring profoundly.

"Anna, what did the doctor tell you?" the tall kid turned to send her a fierce look.

"Not to overdo it?" she answered with huge imaginary question marks spawning around her head.

"Exactly, so what do you think you're doing?"

"Going back to Zeref's place?"

"Nope"

"Nope?" she tilted her head to the side feeling even more confused.

"Seeing that the idiot is taking all the room the cart, I guess there's only one thing to do" Acnologia massaged his temple as if he was suffering from a sudden headache, before striding over to the girl.

"Uhm?" raising an eyebrow she just stared up at his face, causing him to sigh loudly before he extended his arms and in swift movement flipped her over, causing her to lay perplexed in his arms.

"Ohh!" she muttered in surprise while looking up at her friend's face

"Don't look at me like that" Acnologia blushed for some reason and didn't say much more for the rest of their way to their destination.

~ o ~ O ~ o ~

Anna was sitting at the kitchen table with her friends at the Dragneel household, carefully poking her sandwich that Zeref had made for her.

She didn't feel particularly hungry after everything that had went on, causing her to sit in silence mulling it all over while the others talked about whatever. She didn't really pay attention to them, because all of her thoughts were about her father and the things he had done to her.

 _Would he yell at her when she came home?_

 _Was he still angry?_

Not knowing what mood he would be in and whether or not he would be drunk, made her feel incredibly insecure and scared.

"You should eat something, it'll make you feel better" Acnologia said noticing she had barely touched her food.

"Yeah..." she sulked and took a piece of tomato and started nibbling on it.

The taste of food, made her feel almost nauseous causing her to stop her weak attempt.

"So who bullied you?" Natsu asked bluntly, causing a chill to run down Anna's spine for suddenly being confronted with that question.

"I uhm... no one I was just clumsy" she chuckled sadly.

"I'm clumsy all the time, yesterday I ran into a wall and got a nosebleed!" he said almost proudly before smiling wholeheartedly towards her.

"It's because you're an idiotic brat" Acnologia teased, causing Natsu to wiggle his tongue towards the silver haired teen.

"Ah!" the kid looked like he had gotten the best idea in the world, as he crawled down from his chair and walked over to Anna.

"Can I sit on you lap?" he asked sending her an innocent look.

"Sure thing, just sit still okay?" she answered allowing him to get up on her legs.

"Heheh" Natsu grinned his eyes glistening mischievously, as he carefully stole a few bites of her sandwich.

"So what now?" Acnologia asked while removing his ponytail, causing his hair to fall down against his shoulders.

"I don't know" Zeref answered while rubbing his chin "She can't go back there"

"Ohh" realising they were talking about her, she raised her hands and waved them frantically "It's okay, I'll be fine"

"There ain't no way in hell you're going back there, even if that means we have to kidnap you to prevent it" Acnologia said in a determined voice, causing her heart to stop for a second.

 _She wasn't worth the trouble,_ the thought raced through her mind.

"Don't worry about it's gonna be okay" she said in a weak tone avoiding looking in her friends direction.

"Why are you protecting that idiot?" Acnologia asked trying to be calm "It ain't like he deserves it"

"I..." she bit down her lip, debating within herself what to say. It seemed like they had reached the right conclusion earlier on without her even saying anything, but that didn't make her feel better about the situation. No, she still felt guilty that her actions would be seen as a betrayal from his part.

His one and only daughter turning her back on him, just because she was being selfish. He said it himself, that he had been fired and because of that he was emotionally unstable. She understood that, so even though his actions weren't something easy to forgive, she understood his reasoning.

 _Besides she didn't want to break his heart by leaving like her mother did..._

"You know what?" Natsu turned his head around and looked at her "Whenever something bad happens to me or I have a nightmare, mom always tells me to talk about it, because that will make the ghosts disappear and then you're not sad any more"

"Really?"her voice trembled with sorrow, but she managed to sent him a weak smile.

"Yeah!" sending her a toothy smile, he suddenly nudged his head against her chest "They say poof and vanish!"

"Mmm..." Acnologia grumbled his eyes looking like two thin lines for some reason.

"He's right you know" Zeref smiled encouragingly "It might not make your problems vanish but it'll make you feel better"

"Mmm-hm" the silver haired boy nodded while staring intensely in Natsu's direction.

"It's okay... we'll handle this" the pink haired kid vowed, while gently nudging his chin against her "We've got your back"

"We'll protect you, I can assure you of that" Zeref smiled warmly "No matter what it takes"

"If that bastard as much as looks at you wrong way" Acnologia cracked his knuckles "He'll get what's coming"

"Yeah!" Natsu raised a clenched hand into the air "Me too!"

"I... I'm..." Anna felt something inside of her shatter causing her heart to leap painfully in her chest "I have to pee"

"Ohh..." the pink haired kid crawled down from her lap and before any of them got a chance to react, Anna she stormed outside with an incredible speed, which caused both teens to exchange a brief look before following her.

"Natsu you stay here, we'll be back in a moment" Zeref managed to demand, before he raced after his taller friend.

It hurt running, since her ankle wasn't completely healed but she didn't care. For some reason the situation was all too much for her already fragile mind to comprehend, causing her to run so fast her long blonde hair was lashing wildly behind her.

Her friends were calling her name and because they were better sprinters than she was, it didn't take long before they closed the distance between them.

"Leave me alone" she yelled back at her friends hoping her words would have an affect.

"You know that ain't happening" Acnologia said in such a caring tone, it caused the girl to doubt her own actions causing her to abruptly stop running.

 _What the heck was she doing?_

Turning around on her heels, she watched her two friends storming towards her their faces revealing how worried they were.

 _She didn't deserve it,_ Anna thought her face twisting with pain, as her legs gave up underneath her making her fall down on her knees, where she sat crying out loud from all the emotions she had kept locked away so deep within herself, for oh so long.

"We've got you" Acnologia wrapped his arms around her body and pressed her firmly against himself "It's okay"

Letting all of her sorrow audible, she placed her forehead against his shoulder and hugged his torso so tightly, that it was like his body was a lifebelt that prevented her from drowning in her own emotions.

"It's gonna be fine" Acnologia said in a calm tone, leaning his head to the side so it rested against hers "Ain't no one is gonna hurt you ever again"

"Mmm-hm" Zeref agreed while rubbing her back with his hand.

"I'm sorry..." she sniffled loudly "It's not his fault.. he... he's just been so sad ever since mom left... so... he get's in a bad mood, yeah?"

"He get's angry?" Zeref asked cautiously.

"Uh-huh..." she sucked in her breath before continuing "... he just can't always control himself, when he... drinks.."

"Ohh god, why didn't we notice this before?" Acnologia tried sounding calm as he exchanged a look with Zeref "Ever since we were kids you would show up with new bruises... he did that?"

"... it was my own fault..." her voice cracked, as the flood of tears grew in intensity.

"It could never be your fault you idiot" the silver haired teen let out a shaking breath, giving her body a squeeze.

"But..." Anna wanted to protest but couldn't complete her sentence.

"If anything we should be to blame for not noticing it earlier" Zeref declared in a sad tone "We should have been there for you"

"You were... you are" the blonde responded with a squeak.

"I agree with him" Acnologia said in a tone revealing a mild degree of anger "We should have noticed this"

"You guys..." Anna wanted to express her gratitude, but the fact her friends blamed themselves along with the guilt she felt, caused her to break down and cry loudly.

She didn't know for how long she cried her eyeballs out, but eventually she felt so exhausted emotionally that her body ever so silently fell into a deep slumber, her two best friends watching and protecting her all the time.

~ o ~ O ~ o ~

After it had been revealed that Anna's father didn't stand to win the best parent award, the kids brought the situation up with their mothers, who decided that having her move away from home, would be the best solution in order for the girl to get some time to heal her wounds, away from the place she had been abused.

Since Anna was only 13 years old, it was evident that the girl shouldn't be living alone, especially since she had no income to sustain herself. Alva offered to have the girl living with her and Acnologia, but Nea insisted that she should live at their place, since Zeref and Natsu could help getting through the own depressed state she was in.

So with that decided the young blonde packed her few belongings she had, before moving into the Dragneel household.

It didn't take long before this had an effect on the two boys, since Zeref used less time studying alone as he got the opportunity to study with his classmate. Which was good for Anna as well, since they had to focus, if they wanted to get good grades for their final exams.

Natsu turned even more into his usual bold and energetic self because he had found some confidence in being Anna's protector. This made him feel rather responsible, but also proud making him walk around with a straightened back filled with pride.

Another reason the kid blossomed was because the older girl gave him a lot of attention, which turned him into a childish goof ball, that loved being in Anna's company. She was not only a friendly person, but she even played with him from time to time, causing him to behave like the child he was.

Basically they enjoyed life as it was and on this day a certain group of thirteen year old kids, had a valid excuse to feel incredibly happy...

"Finally!" Acnologia threw his arms up into the air and cheered victoriously "No more school!"

"Iso your reptilian brain managed, not to screw it up" Zeref smirked deviously "That must be a world record"

"Oy! I don't fail all my tests!" the taller boy snapped back.

"Well statistically speaking, the percentage you had to redo has a much higher numeric value, than the ones you managed to succeed" he raised his index finger "And the amount of success compared to your scores, gives us an indication of how unintelligent you truly are"

"Shut it bookworm!" Acnologia growled angrily at the idiotic brat.

"Come on" Anna sighed loudly, while massaging her temples "Will you please just give it a rest, I'm not in the mood for you guys jumping at each other's throats"

"You okay?" the silver haired boy asked in concern.

"I couldn't sleep last night and I'm having a killer headache" Anna responded sounding exhausted.

"Hopefully it didn't have any affect on your results, a rested mind accomplishes more than one that is sleep deprived" Zeref stated knowingly, causing a negative aura to spawn around the blonde.

"Way to go buddy" Acnologia snorted "Now she's tired and depressed"

"I'm just stating the truth" the black haired kid blinked innocently.

"Heh, the truth is you're an idiot"

"I fail to see the logic behind that statement"

"It's an insult! It's not meant to be logical!" Acnologia raged a vein on his forehead popping.

"I said stop it!" Anna smacked the two boys on their heads, causing some girlish yelps to escape their mouths.

"Sorry..." Zeref pouted while rubbing his now sore head.

"Hm!" Acnologia huffed pretending to be insulted as he ruffled his hair with his hand.

They walked in silence after that, until they eventually reached the Dragneel household, where they slumped down in the living room.

"I can't believe we're actually free" Acnologia grumbled as he leisurely got comfortable on the couch.

"Yeah it's been ages since we had a vacation" Anna agreed while placing herself next to the tall boy, before popping some medicine into her mouth.

"Even if we're free that doesn't mean we have time to idle" Zeref sat down in a chair opposite from the couch, "After all we'll soon have to start practising magic for real and for that we need to be prepared"

"Gaaah, come on give it a rest nerd" Acnologia rolled with eyes "We should take this time to gain some energy and have some fun"

"I agree, we can't just focus on studies all the time" Anna smiled warmly towards Zeref, who sighed in defeat.

"It's decided then!" the silver haired kid hooted in triumph "Let's celebrate!"

"Yeah!" Anna eagerly jumped up on her feet "This requires some cake!"

"That's an excellent idea" Zeref nodded before strolling out to the kitchen, the girl following close behind him.

Acnologia watched the two for a few seconds and listened as they started talking about random stuff in the other room. He knew they had grown closer after she had moved in with them, but he had never expected them to suddenly be so intimate with each other. For someone who didn't know the two teenagers, it would appear they were just close friends, but Acnologia had noticed that they had more physical interactions with each other, than they had previously.

Stuff like holding hands and hugging each other, was more common between them and for some reason it made him feel somewhat jealous. It wasn't because he had any romantic feelings for the girl, nope none whatsoever, he was just scared that they would distance themselves from him, if they suddenly found out that all they needed was each other.

"Tsch!" Acnologia scoffed at his own stupid thoughts, before he joined his friends in the kitchen.

Their cake making mission was a success, even if it left the kitchen with flour all over the place.

After all the trio had a sudden flour fight with each other, resulting in it getting thrown everywhere.

When the cake was baked and was ready to be consumed, they took it with them outside, where they found a place in the garden, they could enjoy it while feeling the heat from the sun bathing them with warmth.

Zeref quickly made a trip to the cold room, where he found a big bottle of what looked like lemonade, they could drink while eating the delicious cake.

"This is to us, making it through hell and managing to escape!" Acnologia cheered while raising his glass above his head.

"Cheers!" Anna giggled warmly clinking her glass against his, Zeref following suit and doing the same.

Taking a huge gulp of the liquid Acnologia felt rather surprised, when it didn't taste like lemonade but something completely different. It didn't taste awful, but the shock caused him to sit with a baffled look.

"What is this?" Anna asked while she sent the glass in her hand a sceptic look.

"Not sure, I found it in the back of the room" Zeref shrugged while spinning the liquid around in his glass "It might be from one of dad's experiments... mmm... I suspect this is a substance that contains alcohol"

"Really?" Acnologia sent his friend a sly smile.

"Yes" the black haired kid nodded while taking another swig of the liquid "It has a peculiar taste that makes me wonder if it has undergone fermentation"

"Is it okay to drink?" Anna asked looking somewhat nervous.

"Definitely, it hasn't gone bad" Zeref assured before pouring more of it into their glasses.

"But should we drink it? I mean we're under age..." she sucked on her lip, both eyes darting between the two boys.

"Relax, it ain't like one bottle of this is gonna do much" Acnologia smiled warmly, causing Anna to nod.

"I'm pretty sure there's more if the need arises" the black haired kid said in a calm tone, not at all minding that what he said was really out of character. It didn't go by unnoticed by the others however.

"And the nerd turns into a rebel" Acnologia laughed wholeheartedly.

"We shouldn't though" Anna said trying to be the voice of reason.

"Mmm-hm" Zeref hummed before downing the content in his glass.

It didn't take long before the teenagers had consumed the entire cake and had fetched some new bottles, that they somewhat eagerly drank. After all it was hot outside, so the liquid vanished rather quickly to satisfy their thirst.

Because of that it was inevitable that the trio eventually became somewhat drunk, as they sat having fun, not truly understanding what was going on.

"Mmm..." Acnologia ruffled his hair while looking at the cards in his hands "Zeref can I have all your kings?"

"Go fish!" Zeref smirked looking intensely at his own cards "Anna can I have all your... fo-fo... fuck... your fourthesss!"

"Go fish! Acnologiaaa~" Anna purred affectionately "Give me all your kinnnngs"

"Damn it!" he handed her his last cards, looking mildly annoyed.

"Zeereeef, give me all your fourthes-ses" she sent him a teasing look, as he also handed her his final cards.

"Man, this sucks..." Acnologia only got one stack and therefore only one point. Zeref had gotten five and Anna seven.

"Weeeehhhh I win!" Anna squeaked loudly before engulfing Zeref in a tight hug, her head rubbing affectionately against his "And you're second place! We're the best!"

"Mmm..." Acnologia grumbled in dissatisfaction, his teeth gritting firmly against each other.

There was something about them looking so stupidly happy, that caused him to remember his thoughts from earlier on, that caused his stomach to burn with an intense anger.

His sudden mood change didn't improve when Zeref returned the hug, while grinning like he was enjoying it way too much.

 _Stupid friends, being all lovey-dovey right in front of him_... he growled in his mind, leaning forwards with his head so his hair caused a shadow to fall above his eyes.

Fury like nothing he had ever felt before seemed to rage through his veins, causing his skin to tremble ever so slightly.

Not knowing what else to do, he grabbed one of the bottles and emptied half the content in one go.

Unfortunately his coordination wasn't as great any more, causing him to spill a lot of the liquid onto his shirt.

"Ahh man!" Acnologia complained out loud, before he sluggishly removed the shirt.

"You got some in your hair" Anna pointed a shaking finger at him, her cheeks blushing rather fiercely.

"Figures..." grunting in dissatisfaction he touched his wet hair.

"This won't do" the girl got up on her feet and made her way over to him, where she grabbed one of hands.

"What?" he asked in his still grumpy tone.

"Come on" she encouraged him to follow her, which he did feeling somewhat confused.

Not saying anything he choose to go along with her, until they found themselves in the bathroom.

"What are we doing here?" Acnologia asked and watched carefully as Anna turned the shower on and started poking her fingers into the drizzling water.

"Mmm?" she blinked looking somewhat surprised "Cleaning you of course, we need to get that out of your hair"

"Ohh yeah?" he smirked deviously, his eyes darting between her and the water "Only if you're coming with me"

"I woooh! No-n-n-n-n-no! Stop it Acno!" she fought against his arms that suddenly captured her body, before he dragged both of them into the shower.

Chuckling out loud, he kept ignoring her struggling figure, even when she started calling him some rather indecent things, while the water splattered against their bodies.

"Now I'm all wet..." she said in an annoyed tone while sending him an intimidating glare.

"Don't look at me like that" he removed his arms, causing the girl to take a step backwards. Once she did that his eyes instinctively scanned her body, which caused his cheeks to blush fiercely.

Her wet dress was plastered very tightly against her body, revealing the curves her body was starting to form.

 _When the heck did that happen?!_ He wondered briefly, feeling rather awkward.

"What?" she asked, her cheeks suddenly turning into a pink shade as well.

"I uhm... I..." stuttering he placed his hands on her shoulders, not knowing what else to do.

"You uhm?" she smiled warmly up at him before closing the gap between them again, her wet torso hitting his.

"Anna..." he called her name ever so softly as their eyes locked with each other.

He didn't know what it was, perhaps it was because he was somewhat drunk, but he had never seen her look more beautiful and alluring before that moment.

In fact it was like she on some magical plan was calling for him, to get even closer.

Carefully placing his hand against her cheek, he felt his heart bounce in his chest when she leaned into the gesture and placed her own hand on top of his.

Acnologia didn't think about the consequences or anything in general, when he leaned down and placed his lips on top of hers.

 _She felt... well wet of course, but also strangely warm._

Not that he paid so much attention to it as his hands sneaked up on her back, the tip of his fingers almost tingling from his raging hormones and sudden lust that had been ignited inside of him.

To be fair it wasn't like Acnologia didn't know anything about this area, after all he was a normal teenager who had a natural curiosity. However seeing it in some book and suddenly being in such a situation was two completely different things.

It honest to hell scared the shit out of him, no matter how much his body wanted to block out his brain.

Tilting his head slightly to the side, he parted his lips and entered her mouth with his tongue ever so smoothly. She responded by following his actions, causing them to share a rather passionate moment, as their breathing became more staggered and uneven.

Acnologia felt all of his rational thoughts vanishing from his mind, as his hands started stroking her back, before pressing her tightly against his own body, causing a moan to escape Anna's lips.

A weird sort of growl formed in his throat, especially when he felt her hands trailing down his back.

It was ohh so freakishly delightful and mind blowing, that he couldn't stop proceeding even if that was the correct thing to do.

 _And holy fucking god, he wanted her so much..._

"Aaaahhhhh!" a sudden scream suddenly echoed through the bathroom, causing both teens to flinch in surprise before turning their heads to look at the source. Which was a small pink haired boy, who was grasping his own head between both hands, his eyes looking absolutely terrified.

"Ohh..." Acnologia's eyes widened, not sure what the heck to do or say to the traumatised kid.

"Uhm..." the girl blushed in all visible places.

"Mooooom!" Natsu screamed before bolting out of the room "Acnologia is trying to eat her face! I swear it!"

"Uhm..." the silver haired boy frooze uncertain what to do next. .

Fortunately it didn't turn into a grim situation since Nea found the situation rather amusing, so instead of scolding the teens she forced them to get some dry clothes on, before putting them to bed so they could sleep it off.

Unbeknownst to them the older woman knew, that the poor kids would wake up to a living hell

in the form of a massive hangover, that would leave them in a rather pitiful state, that didn't improve when Natsu started bothering them with his way to hyper attitude.

* * *

A/N: Wooooh, this took so long to finish *removes sweat from her forehead*

Also I know they're only 13 but having feelings in that age, ain't that uncommon. Especially since they have to grow up rather fast in their society.

About getting drunk at that age: it's actually pretty normal doing that here in Denmark ^^

Side note: I know it's forbidden to create the habba-habba in here, but my flavours it's so tempting to do it later on and not censor it... like seriously, gah!

See you in the next chapter!

/H


	5. Chapter 5

**Part 5: Point of No Return**

The time had almost come, soon it would be time to say goodbye to her beloved friends.

Anna had packed what she would need for her own journey and thrown it into a backpack, she had thrown over her shoulder.

She felt extremely sad about leaving her friends, but also excited about going on her own adventure to find the Celestial keys.

During her time in school she had consulted with her professor about which path she should follow and after a while they figured out she had a rare affinity towards celestial magic. The kind professor had given her one golden key, which he had saved for the day a student would take on the task of gathering all keys, so she was of to a great start.

Clutching the key in her hand she let out a sigh before putting it into a small pouch she had attached to her belt.

 _It was time to go..._

Feeling determined she nodded to herself, before going into the living room where her friends was gathered.

"So you're really going then?" Acnologia asked, looking downcast about something.

"I have to" she answered, but for some reason he wouldn't look at her.

 _Figures..._ she inwardly moaned.

Ever since their little drunk exchange there had been a weird and awkward tension between them. For the majority of the time they kinda ignored each other, both of them blushing fiercely if the subject had even the smallest relation to something romantic.

Being teenagers they weren't sure what to do with their feelings, because they were best friends and as such it was weird if they suddenly changed that. But then again there had been an obvious chemistry between them, that none of them could ignore.

Of course this could have been resolved to some extend if they just talked about it, but neither of them seemed to want to take that first step and confront the other person.

"Ahhh!" Nea squeaked from the kitchen, causing Zeref to let out a sigh.

"Mom, it's just a snail... or well it was" Natsu said in what sounded like disgust.

"Eeeewww, it got in between my toes!" the woman screamed "Ew-ew-ew-ew! Get it off me!"

"No way I'm touching that yucky thing!" her youngest song commented.

"Sounds like they need my help..." Zeref rolled with his eyes and vanished into the kitchen, leaving the two other teens alone.

"So..." Anna fidgeted with her hands "... sounds like you're gonna be busy when I'm gone, huh?"

"Yeah..." Acnologia ran a hands through his hair as he stood staring at his shoes "... we got in contact with him, so we're gonna start training pretty soon"

"Really?" Anna gasped "You got in contact with Haldrian the dragon?"

"Uh-huh" he shrugged lazily "Wasn't that hard to be honest, since we found some notes their dad left behind"

"I see..." she nodded "... guess Zeref is thrilled about learning ancient magic?"

"He is, yeah"

They stood in an uncomfortable silence after that, none of them knowing what to say.

"Uhm... so..." Acnologia poked the floor with his foot "... when will you be back?"

"I don't know, it depends on how far I have to go" she said truthfully, since there was no way of knowing how long it would take.

"So months? Years?" the other teen grumbled, kicking harder at the ground.

"Maybe?" she noticed his actions and let out a sigh "Will you stop that, you're gonna leave a hole in the floor"

"I don't care"

"Well I do, so stop it" Anna said feeling mildly annoyed.

"No" he finally looked up at her, his eyes burning with anger "You can't tell me what to do"

"Ohh yeah?" she raised an eyebrow and took off her backpack.

"Yeah" he tossed his head to the side, his hair following the motion.

"It's on!" Anna cracked her knuckles and raised her arm behind her back in order to hit his chest, but he caught her wrist rather effortlessly.

"Too slow" Acnologia said, sounding slightly bored.

"Oy, you're not supposed to defend yourself!" she said feeling slightly offended.

"Whatever..." he turned his head and looked in another direction "... shouldn't you be going?"

"I... yes but..."

"Then go already, you ain't gonna find those keys by staying here"

"You really want to see me go, huh?" she smiled sadly.

"I don't care what you do" he released her wrist and turned around on his heels, before strolling outside "I'll see you in another lifetime or whatever"

The teen waved dismissively with his hand, before leaving the room.

"Why?" she whispered, his words piercing through her chest like sharp swords, causing tears to gather in the corner of her eyes.

 _That stupid... stupid... idiot!_ She cursed inside her mind before storming after her friend, who hadn't managed to get that far away.

"Hiyaaah!" Anna shouted causing her target to turn and look at her before she slammed into his body, causing him to let out an oomph like sound, before they both fell forwards.

"What the heck gives?" Acnologia shouted at the girl on top of him.

"You mean idiot!" she weakly started punching his chest "How dare you?"

"I dare..." he stopped talking, his eyes widening with surprise, when he saw that Anna was crying.

"Do I really mean so little to you!" she sobbed feeling miserable "Am I really not worth caring about"

"That's not what I..."

"You're just like my mom, she didn't care either and just left" she took a shaking breath before continuing "And my dad... you're just like him, but instead of hurting me with your fist, you're doing it with words"

Her speech instantly backfired causing her to feel even worse inside, making her tears stream at a faster pace.

"Acno if you..." her trembling fingers clutched his shirt "... if you really hate me, then why did you.. did you... why do you keep confusing me?!"

"God damn it..." the boy sounded exhausted as he placed a hand against his forehead "... what do you want me to say, huh?"

"I don't know..." she sniffled and carefully got up on her feet "... I guess it doesn't matter either"

Rubbing her eyes with the palm of her hands, she started walking back towards the house, taking deep breaths on the way in order to calm herself.

"Are you okay?" Zeref asked when she entered the living room.

"I-I'm fine, thank you" she exhaled a shaking breath, forcing herself to smile.

"Acnologia..." he growled making it sound like his name was a curse word.

"I'll miss you so much!" Natsu who was ignorant to what the teens were talking about, stormed over and hugged her legs.

"I'll miss you too" she patted his head.

"Come back soon, ya?" he looked up at her, with tears and snot streaming down his face.

"I promise, you take care of everyone while I'm gone, yeah?"

"Uh-huh!" Natsu nodded eagerly.

"Now I've baked some buns for you" Nea said in a shaking voice, while rummaging through the bag she was carrying "And there's some fruit, cake, biscuits... I know it isn't much, but hopefully it'll last for a few days"

"There's enough to last a month" Anna chuckled and accepted the gift from the voluptuous woman.

"Don't go outside during the night and stay away from shady people" Nea said through trembling lips "And don't do something reckless, you hear?"

"I promise, I'll be careful" she smiled warmly at the woman, who engulfed her in such a strong hug, that Anna almost suffocated.

"Now come on Natsu, it's time to let her go" Nea grabbed her son, who was bawling and crying even louder.

"Noooo, I don't want her to leave! Mooooom, let me go!" he shouted trying to kick or hit his mom, but his attempts were unsuccessful.

"Come back soon my dear" the woman bowed her head "Now I'll leave so you guys can get some privacy to say goodbye"

And with that the woman left the house with her screaming kid.

"It'll be weird without you around" Zeref smirked before giving her a hug "I don't think I can control that unintelligent baboon without you here"

"I'm sure you'll manage" she smirked and returned the gesture.

"I don't know how to make this departure a happy one" he admitted and removed his arms.

"Yeah..." she shook her head ".. I don't know either"

"Rest assured that you'll be in my thoughts every day"

"I'll think about you too" she sent him a genuine smile and flung her back over her shoulder "I can't wait to get back and see how much you've improved"

"Thank you, I'll do my best to gain the best results" he gave her a quick hug "Have a good journey and come back to us soon, okay?"

"I promise, I'll be back before you notice it" she sent him a thumbs up.

"I'll look forward to that day" Zeref smiled warmly "See you soon"

"Mmm-hm" she nodded and spun around on her feet, making her legs carry her outside to what would be the beginning of her journey.

The blonde didn't get that far, before someone assaulted her from behind, as two very strong arms suddenly caught her torso.

"Ahhh!" she screamed in surprise, her eyeballs almost popping out of their sockets.

"I'm sorry"

"Acno?"

"I'm sorry" he repeated giving her body a squeeze "I was mean to you"

The girl froze, not sure what to say or feel.

"What I said before... I... just... I just don't want to see you go" he took a deep breath "And I let my anger get the better of me... you're so... ahh fuck, how do I say this... you're too precious to me and seeing you leave makes me feel like utter shit"

"You mean that?" Anna asked not sure if she believed him.

"I'm stupid, okay?" Acnologia removed his arms, in order to ruffle his hair in frustration "I ain't big on words like Zeref is!"

"But why did you say it?" she turned around and faced him "Why did you act so indifferent?"

"Because I felt so fucking angry and sad about you leaving, that I didn't know how the fuck I should act and I'm sorry. I really am!"

"Then why didn't you just say so?"

"I don't know... I guess Zeref is right and I'm just a big idiotic monkey, huh?"

"No you're not" Anna giggled and gave her friend a hug "You're more like a stupid dog"

"Oy, don't get cocky on me" he smirked and hugged her back.

"You said cock" blushing fiercely she let out a laugh.

"Perverted girl, I'm not sure I should allow you to leave" he grabbed her body and held her above himself before spinning around, causing a pearling and heart warming laughter to escape her mouth.

They kept doing that for a little, before Acnologia eventually stopped and placed her on the ground.

"I have to go" she said barely above a whisper, reluctant to follow her own words.

"I know..."

"If... if it's possible will you sent me letters?"

"I'm not good at writing, but sure if you promise to sent me some in return"

"Always"

They hugged each other again, Anna enjoying the heat coming from his body and savouring it as much as she could.

"Promise you'll be back soon" Acnologia looked into her eyes and cherished her cheek with his thumb.

"I promise" fresh tears streamed down her face as she grabbed the hand he had placed beside against her face, before gently placing a kiss on it.

"I might be stupid but that's not how you do it" he shook his head and bluntly kissed her lips, lingering there for a second before stopping it "See you soon"

"Yeah... I'll see you soon" she sent him a bright smile, knowing this was it.

Wanting to get it over with as quickly as possible, the girl sprinted away as fast as she could. After a while she turned to look at Acnologia who was standing in the same spot.

Waving with her hand to say her final goodbye, he returned the gesture before she once more started running, her feet carrying her on to new adventures and experiences.

~ o ~ O ~ o ~

"Good damn it!" Acnologia cursed as he sent a book flying, that narrowly missed hitting Zeref's head "I hate this!"

"Mmm-hm" the other kid hummed, being used to his friend occasionally throwing a tantrum.

"When we approached Haldrian I thought we would learn magic, not study it like this!" he fumed and stomped the ground "Gaaaah!"

"We need to learn the dragon lore, in order to understand the origin of magic" Zeref said for what felt like the hundredth time.

"I don't bloody care!" he growled and started punching the air, hitting an imaginary enemy "How is this gonna help us if the war breaks out, huh?"

"Just one look at your ugly face and they'll leave right away"

"What did you say?!"

"Nothing..." Zeref sighed and flipped a page in his book.

Raging on his own, Acnologia kept letting off some steam by fighting thin air, until they heard Haldrian coming back.

"Finally!" the silver haired kid snorted and pointed a finger at the dragon "I'm done with this shit, I wanna learn magic not read your bloody history"

"You might be correct" Haldrian nodded sending his pupil a serious look.

"I... what?" Acnologia froze not thinking it would be that easy to convince the dragon "Really?"

"I've heard some rumours that the dragons in the west are starting to get more followers. Fortunately they haven't made a move yet, but if they manage to gain supporters it's only a matter of time before they might make a move"

"How much time do you think we have, if they take that action?" Zeref asked, closing the book in his hands.

"It depends on a lot of factors, but hopefully we still have a long time before anything happens from their side" Haldrian stated as he looked at the two humans in turn "Now we need to figure out what type of magic you have an affinity towards, before we can sharpen and nourish your powers"

"We did that in school already" Acnologia rolled with his eyes "Look at this"

The silver haired teen reached out his hand, causing silver and blue like flames to spawn.

"Flames like that is pretty rare" the dragon complimented "I know a fire dragon who should teach you, but I'm uncertain where he is these days"

"Can't you just..." Acnologia removed his flames and waved with his hand "... you know contact him with your dragon powers or something?"

"Silly human" the dragon howled with laughter "We do not have some telekinetic bond, just because we're the same race"

"Ahh... right..." the teen pouted, feeling a tiny bit stupid.

"How about you Zeref, what is your alignment?" Haldrian asked causing Zeref to look rather dejected.

"He doesn't know yet..." Acnologia explained his friends behaviour "... I guess that's why he hopes that by studying the origins he can figure it out"

"That isn't a reason to feel ashamed, some humans don't figure it out right away when they hit their teens, but that doesn't mean they can't become incredible mages" the dragon poked the emotional kid with his blue scaled claw "So don't let it eat you, I'm sure you'll become a great mage one day"

"Yeah... I know" taking a deep breath Zeref placed a hand against the claw "Thanks though"

"I'll keep teaching you Zeref, while I try helping Acnologia in enhancing his powers" Haldrian poked the silver haired kid "You ready to sweat, kid?"

"Bring it on!" Acnologia smirked and cracked his knuckles.

With that over with they started their individual training with the dragon, both of them learning more about themselves and magic as time slowly passed by.

~ o ~ O ~ o ~

Nea was busy working on some documents at the Church of Man, when someone knocked at the door.

"Come in" she answered, before a tall girl wearing the white and golden coloured cloak entered the room with a huge load of papers in her arms.

"Let me help you" she jumped up from her chair and took some of the paper, earning a look of gratitude from her colleague.

"I'm sorry to drop all of this on you" the brown haired girl smiled as she placed her stack of papers on her desk.

"Nonsense, it isn't your fault that the majority of staff is sick" Nea smiled wholeheartedly, at the female.

"If... if you say so" she stuttered and bowed her head "I should get going, catch you later yeah?"

"Take care" Nea watched the girl exit the room and let out a sigh, before she sat down again.

 _So much work, so little time,_ she took a deep breath and grabbed her pencil.

 _Ohh well, she better be efficient then or she had to be there forever!_

Determination filled her veins as she proceeded with her task.

Nea was so consumed with her work, that she barely noticed how quickly time passed by. Nor was she that focused on her surroundings, other than the enormous amount of papers on her desk.

Unbeknownst to her a creature had entered her office, that slid silently across the floor.

The black and slim creature put out it's long tongue and tasted the air to locate his target.

Eyes glistening in a red colour, it sensed her warmth and closed in on her.

When the snake was close enough it let out a threatening hiss, before he raised his head and launched himself at the woman's leg.

A second later his teeth dug into her flesh, causing the woman to let out a scream.

"Sssss..." he licked the air with his tongue as he quickly managed to slide away from his victim and into safety.

"Ohh god!" Nea's eyes widened with horror as she watched the creature vanish, her body momentarily frozen with panic.

 _A snake? One of the other priests used magic where he summoned and controlled creatures like that... but what was his name again?_

Feeling dizzy she started to loose balance, causing her to lean against the table. It was harder to breath as well, causing her to stand heaving for air through her mouth.

"... help..." Nea weakly called before her muscles stopped functioning, causing her weak body to fall down against the floor.

"... ah... hah..." she panted, while a mixture of saliva and blood started flowing out of her mouth.

Sweat was also starting to form all over her body, causing her skin to tremble since it caused her to feel rather cold.

 _This couldn't be happening!_ Her mind raced wildly but ever so slowly it started becoming harder to think straight, turning everything into a bundle of mixed voice.

Nea could still feel emotions though, especially as an intense fear and terror was evoked inside of her.

It wasn't like she feared death itself, but the thought about what she would leave behind was absolutely terrifying. Multiple images of her sons flashed inside her mind, causing agony and pain to race through her body.

Those two kids had already lost their father and soon they might lose their mother as well.

Their smiling faces in her mind contradicted her feelings, causing her heart to shatter into a million pieces as tears started streaming down her face.

Memories from her past spawned in her mind, as her body grew more limp. Thoughts about her darling husband from when they first met each other, before they started on their romantic bumpy road, until they eventually got together and got their precious two sons... it all happened so fast and once it stopped she heard a distant voice calling for her.

 _Zack..._ she called in a voice she barely recognised as everything around her seemed to fade away.

 _Don't worry.._. her husband said in his gentle voice … _we'll watch over them together..._

 _I'm scared..._ she admitted, spotting Zack as he suddenly stood across from her on a huge grassy field.

 _This isn't the end but the beginning_ , smiling widely he raised his arms encouraging her to come to him.

And so she did, causing her spirit to leave her dying body, to go to whatever awaited her beyond death.

~ o ~ O ~ o ~

Natsu was feeling rather tired and hungry, as he sat in the living room, playing with a ball he kept throwing at the wall.

He didn't really know what time it was, but it was soon time to get something to eat.

"Mm..." his stomach growled causing him to sit staring at the ball, hoping he would soon get some grubs soon.

Zeref didn't seem to hear his brother's stomach, since he was busy reading in some stupid book about whatever.

 _Stupid brother._.. he pouted, when there was a knock on their door, causing the kid to yelp in surprise, before turning his head to watch his older brother go out to see who was visiting.

After a few seconds, Zeref came back to the living room with a tall woman who was wearing the white church of man rope, concealing her identity.

"Mmm?" Natsu mumbled to himself and watched with some interest as the woman pulled the hood backwards, revealing it was Acnologia's mother Alva.

"Mom isn't home yet, I think she's still at the church" Zeref sighed loudly, ruffling his hair and looking mildly annoyed.

"Yes..." the woman said, before she very slowly sat down on the couch. There was something off about her, Natsu could tell by the tired expression she had and how her hands was shaking ever so slightly.

"Why are you sad?" he asked while crawling over to her.

"You poor little thing" Alva smiled weakly and started patting his head when he had closed the distance between them "I'm so sorry"

"What's going on?" Zeref said in a serious tone "Did something happen?"

"Yes..." she nodded briefly, tears gathering in the corner of her eyes "... something awful happened earlier today"

"What...?" his big brother asked in a serious tone.

"I..." she bit down her lips, her hands shaking even more as they slowly combed through Natsu's hair "Your mother was working on some documents when a creature entered her office... the poison was so lethal that it only took minutes before... before..." taking a deep breath she continued "... Nea is dead"

Alva started crying silently, unable to say any more. Not that she needed to, the news left the brothers shocked and completely frozen as the dreadful news sank in.

"No..." Zeref shook his head, his hands clenching so hard his knuckles turned white "... no it can't be"

"Mom is... dead?" Natsu asked feeling more confused than anything else.

"Yes..." Alva's voice cracked painfully her hand still caressing his head.

"Ohh..." Natsu mouthed feeling like his insides had turned into ice "... like dad..."

"Why?!" Zeref roared fuming with anger as he punched the wall "Why did she die?!"

"A snake..." Alva started but was rudely interrupted by the angry kid, who grabbed her shoulders and started to shake her.

"I don't care what did it!" he shouted, sending droplets of spit flying "I wanna know why! Why her?! Why did she have to die?!"

"I don't know..." she answered looking utterly furious.

"Stop that..." Natsu said while gently using his hand to tug his big brother's pants "... you're scaring her"

"So what?!" Zeref took a step backwards away from the two "This just isn't fair!"

Saying nothing in return Natsu just sat there looking up at his brother, who trembling as tears started pouring down his face.

"How can you look so calm?" he snorted before placing his hands on Natsu's shoulders "Why aren't you sad about this?! Huh?!"

"Auch..." he whimpered as his big brothers hands tightening their hold, until it started hurting him.

"Zeref..." Alva said in a calm tone as she reached out and placed her hand against his back "... please calm down"

"No!" he yelled back, starting to shake his brother "Because he doesn't get it! He's too stupid to get it! Mom ain't coming back ever again! Just like our useless dad died so did mom and none of them are ever coming back!"

"I..." Natsu felt his heart suddenly leap in his chest, feeling something shatter inside of him, as the truth of the news started to sink in "... I..."

"She's dead..." Zeref's voice lowered in volume as he fell down on his knees "... don't you get it?"

"Mom?" he said in a tiny voice as it hit him with full force, like someone had washed away everything he was holding on to, making it feel like he was slowly drowning within himself, as he tried holding on to that glimpse of childish hope with his tiny little fingers, trying his best not to let the monsoon of emotions drag him away.

"She's gone..." his big brother shook his head, looking so sad that Natsu felt like some invisible force was trying to pull his stomach away, making it prickle and hurt in a sickening way.

"No..." shaking his head, Natsu's lips started to quiver while tears gathered in the corner of his eyes "... that can't be... she's just working late... mom will be back..."

"She'll never come back..." Zeref exhaled loudly as he pulled him into a hug.

The truth finally sunk into his brain and once it did, he started bawling and screaming like there was no tomorrow. His tiny heart had already been broken once in his short life time and now it had shattered completely again, making him feel extremely lonely but also very insecure.

Natsu didn't know for how long he cried his eyes out, but at some point something seemed to crack inside of him, making him push his brother away.

It was all just too much for his mind to comprehend and he would have nothing more to do with it.

"Natsu?" Zeref asked, clearly knowing something wasn't right with his brother.

"..." his jaw dropped as he got up on his feet and slowly walked backwards away from the two.

"What's wrong dear?" Alva asked, looking alarmed by his lack of answer.

Still not saying anything Natsu kept walking backwards, until he took a deep shaking breath. After that silence feel over the tiny group, as the two people waited patiently for the pink haired kid to respond to them.

"Heh..." Natsu finally spoke looking at the two others with a face that was completely deprived of any emotions. Heck even his eyes looked dull and flat, like he was completely dead on the inside.

"It's gonna be okay" Alva spoke, motioning with her hands for him to get over to her.

"Sure it will" he answered. His lips curling backwards into a menacing looking smile "Everything will be fine"

"Natsu..." Zeref stated looking alarmed as well by his brother's weird behaviour.

"Ahh-hah..." the tiny kid slid his hand through his hair, before he started chuckling. It sounded so freakishly weird, that the two others could feel a shiver run down their spine, especially when Natsu started howling with laughter.

"Stop it" his big brother said, as he slowly made his way over to Natsu where he placed his hands on his shoulders again.

"Heheh..." shaking his head he slowly stopped laughing.

"Natsu..."

"Yessss..." he hissed before snapping his head backwards, making him look directly up at his brother, with eyes that shone with madness "... uh-huh"

"You need to snap out of it" Zeref shivered feeling uncomfortable.

"Ohh?" tilting his head to the side he looked rather puzzled.

"Seriously you're starting to freak me out"

"I am?" Natsu narrowed his eyes, as anger suddenly started to pulsate through his veins, making an intimidating growl escape his mouth "I don't care"

"Natsu!" Zeref shouted.

"I don't care about you, or anyone else!" he stomped with his foot "You should all just die and leave me alone! I hate you guys so much, I just want you to die again and again!"

"You don't mean that" Alva said now standing beside Zeref "Please calm down"

"No!" Natsu roared before he slammed a clenched fist against his brother's cheek, causing Zeref to be so shocked he removed his hands from Natsu's shoulders.

Having full mobility back, the tiny kid sprinted out of the house not caring about the people who was calling his name, nor that they pursued him outside.

Just wanting to be alone and away from everyone, Natsu started running down towards the village, where he followed different passages and crawled through secret places in order to let the others lose track of his whereabouts. Which happened after a while, since Natsu was quite good in finding narrow and places nobody knew even existed.

After making sure that Alva and Zeref wasn't nearby him, he ran as fast as he could outside the village and into the forest.

Natsu didn't know for how long he ran, but eventually his legs started to hurt making him slow down his pace, until he finally stopped.

"Hah..." heaving for air, he stumbled forwards until his hands found the trunk of a tree, where he stood trying to gain his composure.

 _They are all just so stupid! I hate them! Hate them, hate them, hate them!_ The thoughts raced through his mind, his body feeling so drained that he feel down on his butt, where he sat staring into thin air.

"Why?" he wondered out loud "Idiotic parents, stupid Zeref and stupid Alva!"

Getting up on his feet he spun around himself, making him stare directly at the tree.

"I'm asking you why?!" not receiving an answer he gritted his teeth against each other, while clenching his hands "Answer me!"

Still only being met by silence, a growl formed in the kid's throat as he plunged forwards, before he started hitting the tree continuously with his tiny fists.

"Why?!" he kept asking out loud, while delivering punches to the tree. Ignoring the pain that was coming from his knuckles, that was starting to fracture and crack.

"I don't get it..." his body started to tremble violently as sorrow started to replace his anger "... why?"

His attacks started to grow weaker, until he eventually stopped.

"Why will nobody tell me?!" he screamed loudly, as tears started streaming down his chins "Why...?"

His knees buckled underneath him, making him sit absolutely still for a second, as a storm of incredible sadness spawned inside of him, making it feel like his stomach was drowning and suffocating.

"Auvie..." bringing a hand up to his stomach, he clenched it only to feel a stabbing pain from his knuckles.

"Huh?" wondering briefly what was going on, he raised his hands to look at them and to his utter surprise they were filled with multiple wounds that was bleeding profoundly, making it trickle down his wrists and further down his arms.

"Ehh?" his eyes widened in horror as he watched the red substance trickle down, making images of the night he had found his dead father spawn in his mind.

"No..." both hands started to shake violently, before he placed them on both sides of his head "... no, no, no!"

Rocking back and forth on his butt, he shook his head almost as if that action could both soothe him, but also relieve him of the images that was rummaging through his head.

That's when the ruthless sadness overwhelmed him, making both snot and tears stream down his face, as he sat bawling, screaming and crying, as his world sank once more.

He couldn't bear it, it was just too much for his childish mind to comprehend. Feeling lost, lonely and like his spirit had been shred into pieces, he just sat there all alone trying to stay sane as the chaotic thoughts raced furiously through his mind.

~ o ~ O ~ o ~

Natsu didn't know how long he sat there, but eventually he could feel how it started to strain his body making him feel incredibly exhausted.

"Mm..." his head started to drop, as sleep started to overwhelm him. Just like the child he was, sleep could come all of a sudden and considering all the things he had gone through, it was more than reasonable that he would feel tired.

He was starting to drift away, drooling ever so slightly when a weird sound awakened his primal instincts making him be more aware of the sounds that was around him. Not that he noticed this himself, but his body was ready even when his mind was in a trance like state.

The sound of someone breathing very heavily reached his ear all of a sudden, before hot air started blowing down on him in an even rhythm.

Reacting immediately, he quickly rolled away from whatever was behind him, making him snap his head upwards to see that there was a gigantic green dragon staring back with huge golden eyes.

Not saying anything, Natsu gulped loudly as the huge creature started hissing, making fog steam out of its mouth.

 _That was the dragon of the forest his dad had told him about... Quillnius..._

"I-I-I'm sorry to disturb you..." he started crawling backwards away from it "... I'll go out of your forest right now..."

"Human scum..." the dragon answered in very deep tone, as slime and drool started trickling out of its mouth "... pathetic"

"Please don't..." tears of fright whelmed up in his eyes, as he moved backwards trying to make more distance between them.

It all happened so fast, one minute Natsu was begging for his life the next he saw the dragon with lightning speed raise it's sharp claw, before it moved downwards in his direction. A moment after that he felt a piercing excruciating pain coming from his stomach, making him instinctively look downwards, only to see that his own flesh had been torn causing blood to spout out of his body.

An intense scream of fright and pain escaped his mouth, before he was sent flying to the side before he crashed against a tree, causing the air to get knocked out of his lungs, while his skull slammed against it so hard that he could hear a weird cracking sound in his skull.

Natsu's body feel towards the ground, where a lot of liquid suddenly spouted out of his mouth, that tasted a lot like iron.

"...Ze...ref..." he managed to whisper, not noticing that the dragon was quickly approaching him again, because his field of vision was starting to get black and blurry.

"Sorry..." he exhaled weakly as he laid completely defenceless, while the dragon was more than ready for the second round to begin.

* * *

 **A/N:** Dun-dun-duuuuun! Is this it? Sorry for leaving on that huge cliffhanger, I'm working on the next part so it shouldn't be that long before I publish it :3

So here a few facts in case you were wondering:

In this story Acnologia doesn't have his markings yet, they come as a result of him learning DS magic later on. Which he doesn't learn for a while, because Haldrian has no knowledge of this power yet. Remember it was Irene who created this magic somewhere in the West and as such he has no way of knowing about this technique yet. I had to rearrange the plot a bit to stay true to this part of the lore, hopefully it's worth it in the end.

Originally Nea's death was much more brutal, where she was slaughtered by a dragon but since that would be too simular to how Zack died I made this new one up, where it was more... humane I guess :3

Have a nice weekend you guys! Catch you soon, I promise :D

/H


	6. Chapter 6

**Part 6: In the Woods**

Acnologia was just casually sitting at a bench in the village reading a book, when he heard the sound of someone crying not that far away from him. It was quite obviously a child's voice so he didn't pay it much attention, because kids would cry over anything just to get their parents attention.

Flipping a page in a book about martial arts he had received from Haldrian, he tried to pay it no more attention, but for some reason a tiny part of his brain. Perhaps it was because there was something oddly familiar about the voice.

Letting out a sigh he sought the source with his eyes, not seeing anything right away. However that all changed when a little boy with pink hair came into his point of view, making him watch from a distance as the kid emerged from an alley, before he started sprinting down another street, where he vanished from his sight.

 _Ohh well,_ Acnologia shrugged debating for a minute if he should do something, but reached the decision it wasn't his place to follow him. After all sometimes it was best being alone when feelings sad.

 _Besides the book filled with images of various battle poses was surprisingly interesting_ , the teen smirked and presumed reading the book.

Acnologia sat like that for only a few minutes when someone suddenly started shaking his shoulders.

"Haveyouseennatsu?!" Zeref yelled at a very fast pace, his hands firmly squeezing Acnologia.

"What?" he answered in a bored tone, feeling annoyed for being interrupted.

"Have you seen Natsu?" Zeref repeated looking rather desperate.

"Seriously dude, you're way up in my comfortable zone right now" Acnologia somewhat growled making the other mage take a step backwards.

"Have you seen him?"

"Yeah I saw that little runt..." he placed a mark in his book, before closing it with a thud "... he was running down the street a while back"

"Where did he go?"

"That way" he pointed in the direction Natsu had fled, making Zeref's eyes widen for some reason.

"Damn it!"

"What?"

"That street leads towards to the forest and knowing my brother, he might have been foolish enough to go there"

"Ohh well..." Acnologia took a deep breath before continuing "... it ain't like anything bad could happen to him, I mean it's just a forest"

"There's been rumours that he might have returned to these parts of the forest..." Zeref face paled visibly.

"You should have said so right away, let's go"

They didn't waste time and stormed towards the forest, hoping to find their objective as fast as possible. However as time went by, they found nothing that would lead towards the kid's whereabouts and as the sun started to sink, the chances of finding him became evenly more slim.

Acnologia could see how the fear and panic was starting to overwhelm his friend, causing him to look uncharacteristically desperate.

 _That stupid brat_... he thought to himself when they heard a scream suddenly spawning not that far away from them.

"Natsu..." a droplet of sweat ran down Zeref's forehead, before he started sprinting in the direction they had heard the sound.

"Wait!" Acnologia called dreading that he would do something foolish "Tsch, fucking idiot!"

Following him they started racing as fast as their legs could carry them, until they reached an opening where a huge green dragon, was towering above a tiny human that was laying completely motionless at his massive claws.

"Natsu!" Zeref shouted clearly being deprived of any logic, as he ran directly towards the dragon without any strategy of defeating it.

"God damn it!" Acnologia cursed, watching as their foe shipped focus from the kid towards the approaching figure. Faster than he thought it was possible for the huge reptile to move, he watched in horror as it raised one of its massive claws, ready to strike the other teen at any second.

"Duck!" he shouted, but it was too late making him watch in horror as the sharp claws suddenly dug into the side of his friend, before he was sent flying to the side.

"Zeref!" Acnologia shouted from the bottom of his lungs, standing completely still as the dragon shifted his gaze to look at him.

"Foolish humans..." it hissed, it's yellow eyes glistening with madness "... this is my forest. My rules"

"Bastard..." growling Acnologia clenched his fists, while gritting his teeth hard against each other. In the corner of his eyes he spotted Zeref who was staggering obviously trying to get back on his feet.

"Just move along, while I suck the meat of this youngster's bones" the dragon snickered, making a lot of slime and drool, trickle down it's jaw.

"Leave... my brother... alone!" Zeref roared as he started running towards their opponent, his hand clenched and raised above his head.

With the dragon now looking at the approaching human, Acnologia cursed momentarily before he started sprinting towards the huge lizard. Once he was close enough Acnologia launched himself up into the air, where he raised his leg upwards before using the momentum and gravity to deliver a more forceful kick.

"Fire Claw!" Acnologia yelled making silvery and blue fire cover his feet, thereby further increasing his attack as it connected with his opponents snout.

A ferocious growl emerged from the dragon, as it started throwing it's head back and forth, clearly not in it's right mind as it started screaming towards the sky.

Taking that as an opportunity, the silver haired kid quickly dove down towards the claws, where he quickly scooped the unconscious child into his arms, before he ran at a fast pace towards Zeref.

"Natsu!" the black haired kid quickly scanned his brother, seeing the huge wounds on his body, which was pumping out blood way too fast.

The dragon was still mindlessly screaming towards the sky, making the two stare at each other for a second, none of them having a clear strategy at hand. The pink haired kid was clearly dying and the forest dragon was way out of their league.

"Fucking damn it!" Acnologia snorted feeling his heart clench in pain, as he watched the life slowly seeping out of the tiny idiot's body.

 _There was one solution huh?_

"You gotta run" Acnologia pushed Natsu into Zeref's arms who looked completely baffled "Take him to my mum, she'll save him"

"But..."

"Just do as I say, you moron!" snarling he pushed his friend backwards "I'll keep him distracted, while you get your idiotic butts out of here!"

"But..." Zeref stood shivering, clearly startled and not knowing how to react.

"If you stay here for one more second I swear I'm gonna punch you in the nuts, until you throw up semen" he growled impatiently.

"But..."

"Just go! You don't know how to use your magic yet, so you'll just get in the way!"

Clearly being in some inner turmoil, Zeref frowned and bit down his bottom lip "You better not die!"

"Yeah, yeah..." Acnologia exhaled as he turned around to face the dragon, while Zeref started to run away while carrying his brother.

"Hah! Escape is futile" the huge creature scoffed, while sucking in it's breath.

"Hell no, you stupid lizard!" Acnologia took a deep breath to and let out a battle scream, as his body sprinted in his opponent's direction. Once close enough he launched a series of kicks against its face, earning a scream to escape the reptile's mouth.

"Ahh!" bouncing backwards and landing on his feet, Acnologia kept his eyes fixed on the dragon, as it stood twisting with his head.

"My forest! You dare attack me, in my forest! Nuisance!" the dragon let out a roar, before it spewed a huge amount of green liquid in his direction. Everything the stuff hit, started searing and burning, making it evident it was some rather effective poison.

"Damn it!" Acnologia jumped out of the way, being only millimetres from the attack catching his fleeing body.

Sprinting around his opponent, he gained enough speed to catapult his body into the air, where he used both hands to form a massive ball, his arms moving backwards before he slammed them down on the dragon's neck, the momentum and speed from gravity making the attack more potent.

He could hear it crack a bit, but it wasn't nearly enough to have any effect and as his body landed on the ground, a huge tail suddenly swiped across the ground and hit his body.

"Gaaah!" getting the air knocked out of his lungs, Acnologia was struggling to breathe once he landed a few feet away from his opponent.

The teen barely managed to get a hold of himself, when he felt the dragon's claw punch his body to the side, making him roll around until his back slammed against a tree.

Acnologia didn't need to see the wounds in his stomach, but he could feel it as the blood started seeping down his skin.

 _Bloody hell, how the heck was he supposed to do anything?_

Ignoring the pain in his body he launched himself again towards the creature, but it ended in a failed attempt yet again.

The dragon started roaring at the sky again, causing Acnologia to grind his teeth against each other as an unrestricted anger seemed to burn inside him.

 _Dragons... it was all their fault in the end... they had caused so much pain for his friends and it was because of them that he couldn't go with Anna.. it was their fault she left... his precious friend..._

Something else seemed to burn inside his stomach, causing his eyes to widen as if he saw everything in a new light.

 _The dragon tried to kill his friends... to take away people he cared about._

"No..." he hissed while rising to his feet.

Feeling a blind hatred pump through his system, he let out a deafening roar before launching himself again. This time even more adrenaline was rushing through his system, causing him to sprint at a higher speed before he closed the distance between them.

"Ahhh!" Acnologia screamed in a voice filled with determination as his hand grabbed the dragon's throat, earning a startled roar to escape his foe.

"Eat dirt you piece of shit!" His fingers was engulfed with an intense blue fire that almost seemed to sparkle with light, before it very slowly punctuated the dragon's skin.

His vision turned completely red, not only because of the blood that suddenly started spouting down on him, but his whole mentality seemed to snap, as his fingertips dug into the dragon's meat.

Letting out a ferocious growl, he forced his fingers into the flesh surrounding the dragon's throat. Feeling the organ pulsating in his hand he ripped it out in a fast movement, making blood splatter everywhere. It was literally raining blood all around him, as the dragon started falling backwards.

His opponent was so close to dying and yet the reptile couldn't even scream it's frustrations or make its feelings audible, because Acnologia was standing with the source for the dragon's communicational skills in his hand.

 _Pulsating and dripping through his fingers..._

Not paying any attention the huge creature crashed against the ground, sending a shock wave through the earth making small rocks tremble.

"Heh..." he smirked and watched with mild satisfaction as the dragon's body started twitching until it became completely motionless.

"I did it... I actually did it..." Acnologia placed his blood covered hand against his forehead, feeling that something inside of him seemed to shatter. It was like a piece of humanity had been sliced off replacing it with something completely different. It was like a feeling of fulfilment and satisfaction, that he didn't want to end.

It was more than blood lust, it was like adrenaline and a sense of enrichment was pulsating through his veins, making him feel really good but also off balance mentally.

Not being able to hold it inside a howling laughter escaped from him, making him stand there drenched in blood, until his legs buckled underneath him. Not even caring how the liquid on the ground soaked his clothes he just sat there being somewhat delusional, until tears started forming in the corner of his eyes. He couldn't explain what it was or why he felt so saddened, but it almost felt like he was saying goodbye to a vital part of himself. Like he was losing something that was connected to his own humanity and innocence that he could never regain again.

"God damn it..." the teen cursed as his body collapsed, making him lay in the huge poll of blood on the ground feeling completely exhausted.

After that it only took a few seconds before he lost his consciousness leaving the world behind him as everything was shrouded with darkness.

~ o ~ O ~ o ~

A terrified scream rummaged through the living room, causing Zeref to flinch in surprise before he placed calming hand on the person who was having a nightmare.

"Shh, it's gonna be okay" Zeref reassured the kid, who very slowly opened his eyes.

"I'm sorry..." Natsu whispered, his lips quivering with sorrow.

"There is no reason to apologize"

"Zeref?" his feverish eyes found his brother, who sent him a small smile.

"Yes it is me"

"I've been a bad boy" he sniffled loudly, feeling terrible on numerous level.

Which no one should dare argue against, after all he had lost both his parents as a five year old kid, plus he had been attacked and hurt by a dragon, leaving him struggling with painful wounds but also from being poisoned.

"No you haven't" Zeref said in a calm voice and dipped Natsu's forehead with a piece of cloth.

"I..." he stopped talking as his stomach's muscles suddenly clenched together in an even rhythm, as saliva started spawning at a more rapid place.

Turning his head to the side and away from the couch, a small amount of liquid spewed out of his mouth before splashing into a bucket that was placed on the floor.

His body wanted ohh so badly to puke even more, but since there was nothing in his stomach, he just laid making weird noises, causing long streams of saliva to leave his mouth.

It hurt puking, since the wounds from the dragon wasn't fully healed, so the kid started crying silently from the pain he felt, making him feel an even stronger urge to puke.

After a small while Natsu just laid gasping for air until he with some effort laid down on his back.

"Here, drink it slowly" Zeref gently placed a cup against his brother's lips, who tried not to down all the water in one gulp.

"Mmm" laying down he watched as his older brother made a mixture of some sort in a bowl. Not knowing or caring what it was, he laid looking at Zeref who looked super tired, but also more skinny than he used to be.

"You okay?" he managed to ask, before a cough overwhelmed him.

"Rest assured, that I am doing fine" Zeref answered while adding some ingredients to whatever he was making.

"... kay..." feeling dejected from that answer, he bit down his lips trying not to cry again.

"There" the older kid let out a sigh before spilling the content in the bowl into a cup "Your medicine is ready"

Not saying anything Natsu took the offered item and looked down at the muddy looking liquid.

"Drink all of it" Zeref said in a serious tone "There will be no excuse not to do so"

His brother's sudden cold attitude, caused the pink haired boy to flinch ever so slightly, before he started drinking his medicine that tasted absolutely horrible.

"Yuck..." wriggling his nose he looked at his brother, who looked rather angry for some reason.

"Down with it" he motioned with his hand, as if he was trying to make him hurry up finishing the task.

Furrowing his eyebrows and feeling rather hurt, Natsu emptied the cup feeling a new urge to puke.

"Good, now get some sleep" Zeref took a deep breath and closed his eyes "You'll feel better the next time you wake up"

"... kay..." feeling pretty sad, he laid perfectly still as tears ran down his cheeks until he eventually fell into a deep sleep, which was eventually filled with feverish dreams and haunting images.

~ o ~ O ~ o ~

A couple of days went by, when Zeref one morning heard Acnologia barging into their home.

 _Ohh well he should have seen that coming..._ he let out a sigh and quickly peeked into the living room to secure that Natsu was sleeping, before he went out to greet his friend, who was fuming with anger.

"What the fuck dude?!" Acnologia yelled furiously "You quit?!"

"Not all of us speak like barbarians, so will you tone it down" Zeref said in a lazy voice, digging both hands into the pockets of his pants "Besides Natsu is sleeping, I would prefer not waking him"

"I ain't doing shit, until you tell me why you quit getting lessons from Haldrian" he sneered sending him a challenging look.

"There is no reason to continue a fruitless path, if there's other solutions that might provide me with more knowledge" Zeref shrugged lazily.

"Oh yeah?" the silver haired boy narrowed his eyes, looking rather sceptic.

"Yes"

"So you don't care about the ancient magic that only dragon's know?"

"That is correct"

"You're lying"

"Ohh and how did you reach that conclusion?" Zeref raised an eyebrow, starting to feel rather annoyed by his friend's persisting attitude.

"Because I know you and there ain't no way in hell you would give up on such an opportunity" Acnologia countered while shaking his head "Is this because of what happened in the woods?"

"Tsch! As if" the other teen tried to deny, while looking in the opposite direction.

"Hah! I knew it!" smirking triumphantly Acnologia slammed a clenched fist against his hand.

"Is that so, huh?" Zeref growled losing his patience "Are you sure your reptilian brain truly understands the situation?"

"Ohh, I understand it far better than I think you do" he raised his chin looking slightly smug.

"Then please enlighten me with your wisdom" Zeref snorted not feeling entirely sure he actually wanted to know. After all his best friend was rather good at picking up on his behaviour on a level he admittedly didn't always understood.

"First you feel guilty about leaving Natsu behind when you go train, because he's still suffering from the attack. Furthermore my mum managed to heal our wounds, so that makes you feel even worse especially when you couldn't do anything to defend him, other than become the dragon's chew toy"

This hit the mark right on the spot, causing the shorter boy to flinch before anger started flickering inside his stomach, spreading through his veins like wildfire.

"Shut up!" Zeref growled in a tone filled with fury "How dare you say such things to me when you could have prevented it all?!"

"What the heck are you talking about?"

"You should have stopped Natsu before he ran into the forest!" he poked Acnologia's chest "He ran straight past you and you did nothing!"

"How was I supposed to know he would be foolish enough to do that?" the silver haired teen growled "Plus it's been ages since the dragon was in these parts, how the hell would I know he might be in danger?"

"He was crying!" Zeref stomped with his foot "You should feel enough compassion towards your friend to at least try and soothe him, when he was obviously feeling bad!"

"If I had known it was because Nea died, I would have done that! But hey for all I knew he was crying because someone denied him a second serving of cake" he gritted his teeth firmly against each other, making them crack ever so slightly.

"That's the lamest excuse ever!" Zeref snarled his skin prickling with unrestricted fury, his mind becoming more numb as the feeling overwhelmed him "It's all your fault! You could have prevented all of this from happening!"

"How dare you...!" Acnologia clenched his fists together, looking ready to turn it into a physical fight.

"I dare because it's the truth!" he threw his hand dismissively to the side, as if that motion could sweep all his friend's arguments away.

"That's fucking harsh, man!" the silver haired boy flinched, a small look of hurt flickering in his eyes.

"I don't care!" Zeref shook his head "Now please leave, your presence disgusts me!"

"Come on, snap out of it!" Acnologia placed his hands on the other teens shoulder "This isn't you!"

"Get the hell out of my house, you insolent piece of shit!"

Seeing that this had no effect whatsoever on his friend, the silver haired boy let out a long shaking breath before he turned around and left the place.

Surely his friend was gravely hurt, but Zeref didn't care one bit about that. At least not at that moment, when he watched his taller friend leave.

 _His fault... it was all his fault,_ he thought feeling more and more convinced about that fact as he repeated it inside his mind. Of course Zeref also blamed himself for not being able to protect his own brother, but at that moment all of his hatred and inner turmoil was transmitted into the resentment he felt towards his friend.

None of them knew this at the time, but a small crack had appeared in their solid friendship that could never be repaired no matter how much time went by.

* * *

 **A/N:** So.. that happened xD

Love you guys, bye-byyyyyyyyyyye!

/H


	7. Chapter 7

**Part 7: Natsu and the plush**

A couple of weeks passed by where nothing particular occurred, which was very fortunate for Zeref because that gave him some time to carefully watch over his brother, as he slowly recovered from the poison. Of course this had a huge effect on Zeref, not only because he wasn't certain if his brother would survive, but the situation caused him to fell even more traumatised, as he was constantly reminded of death, that had taken their parents not that long ago.

He developed a new sort of hatred and resentment during this period as well, because he needed something to blame for all of the pain and looses he had been through. Zeref choose to direct these emotions towards Acnologia, but also his mother Alva whom he felt had betrayed him. The older woman had been there a few times to check up on Natsu, but her powers were absolutely useless against his condition, which made him furious and bitter.

Acnologia had failed to save his brother and he would never forgive him for that.

 _Humans, dragons... who is the real enemy?_ the black haired kid wondered to himself as he sat next to Natsu who was sleeping peacefully in his bed.

It was early in the morning, but nevertheless it was time for his brother to get some substance.

"Wake up" he gently shook the pink haired kid's shoulder, who immediately started to stir around underneath the blanket.

"Are you awake?" he enquired getting a few grunts in return.

 _So he was still sleepy_... smiling to himself Zeref gently patted his brother's back, knowing that it would take a little while longer before he was fully awake. So with that in mind he left the room and strolled out to the cooling room where he found some dried fish and nuts.

Taking his loot back to the kitchen, he chopped the ingredients into smaller chunks before he added it to a sort of porridge he quickly made on the stow.

Pouring his creation into two bowls, while also fetching two spoons he then returned to his brother's bedroom, where the pink haired kid sat staring into thin air, clearly more asleep than awake.

"Good morning" he smirked to himself as Natsu started to moan loudly, rubbing his eyes with his tiny hands.

"... morning..." his little brother yawned loudly.

"Here I made breakfast for us" Zeref offered Natsu one of the bowls, which he accepted very slowly.

"Thank you" he responded in a sleepy voice, before he started scooping up the food eating it in silence.

"Mmm-hm" feeling somewhat proud of himself, Zeref started to eat his own portion, but after chewing the first spoonful, he felt sweat trickle down his forehead.

 _Never in his life had he tasted something so awful!_

Sitting completely still, it took what felt like forever before he finally managed to swallow the mixture in his mouth.

"Gahh..." feeling slightly nauseous Zeref sat staring at his bowl, wondering to himself why it was always such a struggle for him to make something edible.

"Uhm..." Natsu squirmed a bit causing all alarms to go off in the older kid's head.

"What is it? Are you feeling bad?" he started ranting while quickly scanning his brother's body.

"I... no..." biting down his lip he seemed to sneak peek at Zeref's bowl for a few seconds before he finally asked "If... if you're done, can I eat the rest of yours...?"

"Ahh!" his heart skipped a beat in relief "Of course, you can have as much as you want"

"Thank you" Natsu beamed at him, as he started chowing down Zeref's portion.

"You're welcome" he answered enjoying the silence that followed after that.

"Thanks for the meal!" the kid said in an excited tone, throwing both hands into the air like he just didn't care.

"It pleases me, you liked it" Zeref said sincerely, taking great pleasure in the fact that his brother could eat almost anything "So how are you feeling today?"

"I'm good" Natsu nodded, still looking a bit sleepy.

"Excellent" he used his hand to ruffle his brother's hair, a small smirk playing on his lips "Then you should go take a shower"

"On second thought I don't feel so good" his facial expression changed making him look like he had just sucked on a lemon.

"Liar" Zeref chuckled "Now come on off you go"

"Mooh, but I don't wanna" he pouted and closed his eyes.

"I'll let you play with my plush, if you do it"

"Really?!" Natsu's eyes opened once more and was glistening with excitement.

"Yes, now go fill up the tub, I'll come help you when I'm done with the dishes"

Not answering him, the pink haired kid removed his blanket and flinched at the sudden change in temperature, before he strolled out to the bathroom.

With a small satisfied smile playing on his lips, Zeref took the plates and went to finish his tasks in the kitchen, which didn't take that long to get over with.

Once done, he joined his brother in the bathroom and to his surprise Natsu was already in the bathtub, where sat shivering and with teeth hammering hard against each other.

"You idiot, you haven't warmed the water!" Zeref gasped feeling slightly mortified.

"I-i-i-i-i-is k-k-k-k-kay" Natsu muttered through lips that was starting to turn blue.

"No it isn't you dumb ass" going over to the tub, he quickly got down on his knees so he could start the fire lacrima he had installed in the bottom.

It didn't take more than a few seconds, before the water started to warm up causing Natsu to let out a sigh of relief as the temperature got more comfortable.

After a while Zeref turned off the lacrima, before he found a bar of soap he started rubbing between his hands.

Knowing the procedure his brother took a deep breath before plunging his head underneath the water, coming up again a few seconds later with his hair drenched.

Still sitting in a comfortable silence, Zeref rubbed the soap into Natsu's hair causing a lot of bubbles to form. As if on cue his brother covered his eyes with both hands, trying to protect them from the stingy content from entering them when his hair got cleansed.

Which happened shortly after, as the older kid used a small container he filled with water and used to flush out the remaining soap.

Once cleaned Natsu stepped out of the bath and was thoroughly dried by Zeref, before he got into a clean set of clothes.

"Can I go play with your plush now?" the pink haired kid asked, with a hint of impatience.

"Sure, you know where it is"

"Yooooshhhaaaaa!" Natsu yelled as he stormed out of the bathroom, in order to go find his price for being a good kid.

It was times like these that Zeref missed being a regular kid, who didn't have to worry about all the problems that was going on in the world. Heck, in some aspects he was still a kid considering he was only 13 years old.

 _Not that it mattered, time waited for no one,_ he thought to himself before joining his brother in the living room, who was already deeply engaged in playing with the cat plush.

Not wanting to interrupt him, Zeref found a book and sat reading in it on the couch taking his time to cherish the moment they were having.

A couple of hours went by, when they heard what sounded like a fierce roar, that caused both of them to flinch in surprise.

 _It couldn't be_... Zeref dropped his book as he quickly got up on his feet, his eyes widening with fear.

But it couldn't be anything else and he knew that, which caused him to gulp loudly as he slowly turned to look at his brother who was equally frightened.

"A dragon..." Natsu grasped his head between both hands and started shaking it "... just like... just like"

His limbs felt frozen as he stood staring at the pink haired kid, who was panting and shivering obviously on the brink of panicking.

"No..." Zeref muttered to himself before he rather forcefully engulfed his brother in a tight hug "... it's gonna be okay"

He wasn't sure if he heard him a not, but immediately after that Natsu started crying, both of his hands tugging Zeref's shirt so hard, it revealed a disparity he had never seen in his brother before.

All he could do was comfort the hysterical kid, who was bawling so loudly that it almost sounded like someone was torturing him. Which was probably the correct way to decipher the situation, as the kid was mentally molested from all of the trauma he had already experienced, which caused his tiny mind to shatter and splinter as horrific images was flashing through his mind.

 _He hated it... ohhh so goddamn much,_ Zeref thought grimly because he knew there was nothing he could do to was soothe him from the mental torture.

 _Helpless... useless... fucking pathetic.._. gritting his teeth hard against each other he tried not to let his own feelings overwhelm himself.

An energy of hatred and anger formed inside of his body, which didn't lessen once Natsu started calming down. Far from it, it seemed to encourage him to do something useful no matter what that implied, as the dragon kept roaring from somewhere in the distance.

"Are you okay?" Zeref managed to ask in an even voice.

"Ye-yeah..." Natsu answered as he removed himself from the hug, where he sat staring blankly into thin air.

"I..." he took a deep breath trying to build up some strength "I have to go"

"Ohh..."

"Don't worry I'll be back before you know it" taking his brother's silence as some sort of acceptingness, Zeref started gathering some things that might be of use in upcoming fight.

It didn't take long for him to finish that task, making him stand for a second completely frozen as he looked at Natsu who still sat with a blank expression.

"I promise I'll be back" he swore his resolve in joining the battle almost shattering, because he knew that his brother would be all alone and probably scared when he was gone.

"Uh-huh..." the kid nodded very slowly his jar dropping, so he looked like someone who wasn't in his right mind.

 _You can't leave him like this? No... you have to get back at the dragons... it's their fault! It's all their good damn fault!_

"Stay inside no matter what happens!" Zeref quickly made up his mind and spun around on his heels before bolting out of their home. He didn't look back to see the hurt expression on his brother's face, nor did he stop until he eventually reached the village which was getting assaulted by a huge black dragon.

~ o ~ O ~ o ~

Natsu sat immobile as he watched his brother storm out of the house, leaving him to his own misery.

He wanted to get up and follow his brother, but for some reason he felt paralysed. So instead he sat absolutely still trembling with fear.

Automatically his shivering hands reached out and found the cat plush, he hugged very intensely against his chest, whispering soothing words to the inanimate object while rocking back and forth ever so slowly.

He could still hear the dragon roaring in the distance, which caused him to flinch with fright.

Feeling absolutely horrible, Natsu sat like that trying to calm himself doing his best to suppress the memory of his father's tattered body and how the dragon in the forest had mutilated his own body.

Smacking his tongue around in his mouth, Natsu suddenly felt incredibly thirsty making him stagger out to the kitchen, his eyes darting in all directions to make sure there wasn't something lethal that would suddenly surprise him.

 _Monsters are real... no... they're not, come on you're a big boy now!_ The kid tried to build up his confidence as he eventually reached his destination, where he found some water he downed through trembling lips.

Natsu was about to swallow another mouthful of water, when he heard a loud vicious scream coming from somewhere outside, which made him spout out the content in his mouth.

"No..." water trickled down his cheeks, as he stood frozen in his position feeling completely horrified.

The roaring dragon was coming closer, he could hear it as the sound seemed to increase in volume.

 _Move... come on move!_ He inwardly shouted at himself, but it didn't work. His body was completely paralysed with fear.

Standing there a flashback to the gigantic green dragon, caused his heartbeat to suddenly hammer violently inside his chest to a point it actually started hurting him.

Which was what he needed to get the feeling back in his muscles, causing him to storm into his bedroom, where he dived underneath the bed trying to hide from the incoming thread.

"Go away..." he hugged the cat plush closer to his chest, while curling into a ball "... please go away"

Rocking back and forth, trying to soothe himself again, he could feel how it started to become harder to breathe.

The feeling didn't lessen as more horrible images from his past again assaulted his mind, causing him to have a minor breakdown, as tears and snot started streaming down his face.

His heart felt like it was being torn apart by how hard it kept slamming against his ribcage, as if it wanted to escape his tiny body. At the same time it felt like his intestines was somehow being slowly pulled apart, as if his stomach contained some ravaging monster.

 _It hurt... it hurt so much..._

Natsu was oblivious to anything but his own distressed outburst and the sound of the roaring dragon, as he laid in his own bubble of despair.

"Zeref... please come back..." his voice cracked as he squeezed the cat even closer to his chest "Mom... dad..."

He knew it was futile to call for any of them, but Natsu was still just a helpless five year old kid, so it was only natural for him to call out for the people he loved.

Frightened, alone and facing his worst fear he couldn't do anything but feel utterly horrified.

After a while he seemed to register that something really weird was going on. Not knowing what it was his instincts was suddenly on alert, as he stopped sobbing and started to listen.

There was a weird noise coming from outside, that he couldn't identify but as he laid absolutely still Natsu knew that something awful was going on. It was suddenly too hot and it smelled absolutely dreadful.

 _Like someone had placed something bad in the fireplace..._

 _Ohh no..._

Gulping loudly he raced towards the door, before opening it with shaking hands. The sight made him want to scream, but no sound escaped his lips.

The entire room was filled with fire and smoke that smelled so awful and suffocating that he quickly closed the door.

 _There was nowhere to run!_

Coughing from the smoke that had entered his lungs, he sat down as far away from the door as he possible could, trying to figure out what to do.

Not that there was that much he could do, as he sat hugging the plush while crying silently.

 _Zeref..._ he thought as the flames started to lick through the cracks underneath the door … _I'm scared..._

Taking a deep breath he got more smoke into his lungs, that hurt his throat so much it causing him to cough again.

"But I'm a big boy..." he said trying to gather some courage "... big boys aren't scared of anything..."

You believed in me didn't you dad... mom?"

Determination started to fill his body, as he got up on his feet.

 _I can do this!_

A roar that turned into a painful scream escaped his lips, while new tears ran down his face.

 _He would get out of there no matter what, even if it killed him!_

Still holding on to the plushie, he stormed out of the bedroom, trying his best not to let the sight of his home being burned get the best of him, he tried his best to find a passage through the labyrinth of fire, without standing still for too long.

 _Hot... it was so hot..._

The flames flickered against him, scorching his flesh wherever it touched, causing him to groan from the nasty pain.

 _But he didn't care, he would get out of there._

It was getting harder to breathe, as the air itself burned his lungs making it incredibly hard to get enough oxygen to enter his body. The pain caused him to cough loudly a few times which made it hard to stand up straight.

 _Can't breathe..._ his vision started to get blurry making it even harder to find a way out of the maze of flames.

 _He would get out of there, he had to! S_ tubbornly he forced his fatigued body even further, ignoring how the flames still kept lashing painfully at him.

Feeling like he was a fish caught on land, Natsu kept struggling until he recognised the entrance to the house, he quickly stumbled towards on his exhausted and shivering legs.

It was his ticket out of hell, he just knew it making him use all of his remaining strength to push through his own limits, as he made a final dolt ignoring how agonising it felt, making bile enter his mouth.

Coming outside he felt the fresh air hit him, like it was a cold wave. Welcoming and shocking at the same time, making him stand for a few seconds feeling relieved.

He wanted to breath in the fresh air, but he couldn't. It was like his throat was blocked somehow, making his body sway as the lack of oxygen made it's toll on him.

With eyes clouded he didn't see the ground coming closer, nor did he feel it when he collapsed against the ground.

Laying there absolutely motionless Natsu didn't even register that he was still holding on to the cat plush, that had been so badly singed and burned that it was hard to recognise any more.

 _I did it... I made it out..._ he thought to himself as the world around him started disappearing.

Natsu wanted so badly to taste the rewarding fresh air entering his body, but it was something he would never get. His lungs were too badly injured for him to ever breathe again, causing his final moments to go by in silence.

* * *

A/N: Sorry for the cliffhanger, I promise that the next part will be out pretty soon I just need to edit it a bit :)

I've mentioned this before but I do try my best to incorporate stuff from the latest revelations in the manga, but it's hard taking everything into consideration.

Have a good one out there :)

/H


	8. Chapter 8

**Part 8: Unforgivable**

Zeref knew it was limited how much he could do, but he fought valiantly nonetheless in spite of the fact that he still hadn't unlocked his magical powers.

Lending support to others and being the primary strategist making good tactics against their foe, he was still a valuable piece in their fight.

 _No more!_ He thought to himself, feeling determined to bring down the massive black dragon no matter what it took.

With adrenaline rushing through his system, he felt as sharp as ever trying to find the dragon's weak spot as it kept spewing warm flames in their direction, making it hard to form a proper counter attack.

"Zeref!" Acnologia called his name all of a sudden, causing the kid to grunt in annoyance.

"What is it?" he growled impatiently.

"Have you found it yet?"

"No, not yet" Zeref answered truthfully.

"I tried going after his throat but that didn't help" Acnologia said, not noticing how the tinier person's eyebrow seemed to twitch in annoyance.

"Yeah I saw that and how you were sent pummelling into that card filled with female underwear"

"Oye, why do you sound so smug about it?!" he sounded mildly offended ignoring their enemy.

"Because a pair was tangled into your hair" Zeref blushed not wanting to remember those tiny little things.

"Should we try throwing underwear at it?" Acnologia suggested in a serious voice.

"It's not human!" he shouted thinking that the tall guy must have hid his head and become even more stupid.

They almost forgot the dragon for a second, when a roar from it caused them both to flinch and turn in it's direction. It looked absolutely pissed as it started flapping with it's massive wings, causing it to go straight up into the air where it sucked in a large breath.

"Get back!" Acnologia pushed Zeref behind him and took a protective stance, as their foe spewed a huge amount of flames down on the ground.

Not getting time to react, Zeref watched as his former friend (or whatever they were now) counter the flames by actually eating them, as he sucked it into his mouth causing it to vanish.

 _That was actually pretty cool_ , he admitted to himself.

The dragon roared even louder and flew up higher into the sky, where it was suddenly joined by another dragon.

"You've got to fucking kidding me!" Acnologia voiced his opinion, both of them staring at the creatures as they started circling each other for a few seconds before they flew away, evidently leaving the village behind.

"Aww heck no, you aren't getting away from me!" the grey haired kid growled, but was stopped by Zeref who grabbed his arm.

"Let them go, there's nothing we can do against two of them" he said honestly, knowing they were lucky both dragons didn't decide that it would be fun lounging above their food source.

"Gaah, I guess you're right"

"I don't get it though" Zeref mulled while rubbing his chin "Why did they leave, when they could have destroyed the entire village together?"

"Dunno" Acnologia shrugged "Perhaps they wanted to set an example or something"

"It's possible they wanted to get to the Church of Man ..." Zeref continued when he suddenly realised something.

 _If the Church of Man was their target, then there was a small chance that they might want to get revenge on the family relating to it, which was both the Dragneels but also Acnologia's mom..._

A chill ran down his spine, as he jolted into a standing position.

"What's wrong, you look kinda pale all of a sudden" Acnologia asked with a hint of fear.

"Make sure your mother is all right, I need to go home!" Zeref said hurriedly before he darted out of the village.

His legs was hurting, not only from the sudden sprint but also because of the fight he had endured.

"Please..." he whispered to himself, as he turned a corner and noticed a vast amount of smoke in the sky, coming from multiple places in the distance. The other dragon had attacked all the small houses that was on the outskirts of the village, which caused himself to panic because he knew the chances of their home being unharmed was close to none.

"Fuck!" pushing his own limits, he ran as fast as he could until he could see smoke and huge amounts of flames licking against the sky in wild and uneven patterns.

It didn't take long before he reached their home, where he kept yelling his brothers name, while feverishly turning around to see if he could spot any movements outside, because if Natsu was still inside there was nothing he could do about it, seeing that the entire house was entirely consumed with black fire.

After a short while he reached the main entrance where he spotted a bundle laying on the ground.

"Natsu!" He recognised his brother and immediately got down on his hand and knees beside the tiny kid.

"Natsu" turning his brother over, he gasped in shock when he saw the horrific burn marks and scorned flesh on his tiny body. The sod was smeared all over the kid and in some places the skin had cracked, causing blood to trickle down his skin.

Putting a finger against his brother neck he tried searching for a pulse, but he couldn't find one.

"No, this can't be..." Zeref tried searching for other sources that might reveal that his brother was still alive, but he couldn't find anything causing him to start breathing more heavily through trembling lips.

Only being seconds away from mentally snapping, he suddenly heard footprints approaching him, causing him to turn his head and look in their direction.

"Oh god, is he...?" Acnologia placed a hand against his mouth with a horrified expression on his face.

"Hush!" Alva yelled as she placed herself in front of the two brothers, her hands glowing as she hovered them above Natsu's body.

"Please..." Zeref appealed in a high pitched voice, not noticing the tears that was suddenly streaming down his face.

Not answering, the older woman's eyebrows furrowed in concentration as her hands smoothly ran above different places of his brother's body.

"Alva, you have to save him" Zeref pleaded and noticed how the woman was biting her lips, her face looking frustrated.

Taking a deep breath Alva leaned backwards before removing her hands "It's too late..."

"Wha... what do you mean?" the dark haired kid gulped painfully.

"I can't heal him" she said in a calmer voice.

"No..." shaking his head Zeref stared at the older woman.

"You sure mom?" Acnologia asked earning a nod from her "God damn it!"

"Natsu please" he looked down at his brother who looked so peaceful in spite of all his wounds "Wake up"

Hugging the tiny kid close to his chest, he felt lost in his own mind as a tsunami of emotions threatened to overwhelm him.

 _If he could just wake up, then he was sure everything would be okay..._

"Zeref" Alva called in a gentle voice. earning a vicious glare from him.

"Go..." his voice dripped with malice "... go right now or I will kill you with my own hands"

"Oy!" Acnologia quickly wiped his eyes before standing beside his mother "Don't you dare threaten her!"

"It's okay" the woman sighed and got up on her feet "let's go"

"But..." her son said in a bewildered voice.

"There's nothing we can do here" she said and started walking away, followed closely by Acnologia who seemed both confused and sad.

Once they were gone Zeref sat clinging on to his brother for who knows how long. Not that it mattered because for him it felt like time stood still as the world around them seemed to vanish.

It was all just too much for his brain to comprehend especially after all the trauma he had already experienced.

 _No... this wasn't fair, this wasn't fucking fair!_

 _He didn't deserve this, nor did his brother!_

Zeref was a mess and would do anything to prevent his brothers death from being a reality. Sure, it would be great if he could their parents back as well, but losing Natsu was the final straw that caused his mind to shatter.

Not knowing what to do, he stared up at the sky his eyes glistening with unshed tears and fury.

"I don't care who or what is out there, but I refuse to let him go!" he roared in a voice filled with determination, not revealing his inner frustrations "I'll do whatever it takes, just save my brother!"

 _Are you sure?_

A dark hissing like voice suddenly came from the black fire which was still eagerly destroying their former home, which caused Zeref to jump in surprise.

"Yes..." he nodded "... yes I am"

 _Would you exchange your soul for his?_

"In a heartbeat"

 _Interesting... yes... perhaps it is already time..._

"Time for what?" Zeref asked in a stern voice.

 _Another victim..._

"I don't know what you're talking about, can you save him or not?"

 _If you choose so then yes_

"Do it then!" Zeref shouted impatiently.

 _There will be consequences_

"I don't care!" he knew deep down inside that he should be sceptic about this, but if it could give him his brother back then he didn't care.

 _Very well..._

A black hand emerged from the flames and before Zeref got time to react it dug into his chest, grabbing his heart forcefully making it feel like it was being crushed.

"Ngh!" letting go of his brother he hugged his stomach as the pain seemed to spread to his other organs making it feel like his insides was sliced into pieces with sharp claws.

Zeref didn't hear himself screaming in agony, but he did feel it when the hand suddenly stopped tormenting him.

Heavily breathing he watched as the hand effortlessly slid out of his torso, containing a bright light that was shining almost warmly. There was something sickening about it as well, as the light itself seemed to beat and pulsate in an even rhythm.

There was something utterly fascinating about it though, causing Zeref to watch with interest, as the creature pressed the light against Natsu's torso, which entered his brother's body, causing him to glow ever so faintly.

After a few seconds it started healing his brother's wounds and once all of them had vanished Natsu suddenly took a deep breath, causing Zeref to gasp loudly.

He watched with wonder as the light around Natsu suddenly evaporated, leaving his brother unconscious but alive and breathing in his arms.

"I'll always protect you" Zeref cried loudly as he stroked Natsu's back "I promise, I'll do whatever it takes to keep you save, even if something bad happens to me"

It was a promise he swore loudly, because even though he didn't know what sort of deal he had made and what consequences it might have, he would make sure that his brother never died again.

~ o ~ O ~ o ~

It didn't take long for Zeref to form a plan in his head, after he had taken refuge at Acnologia's house. His brother was still unconscious and seemed to be more or less in a coma like state, that left even Alva baffled.

Zeref needed knowledge and there was not enough for him to gain by staying in the village. He needed to go to the city and enrol at the university. Of course this meant he had to find a place to live there, but it also meant he would have to spend a lot of time both studying for school, but also trying to do some research on his brother's weird condition.

He didn't say anything about his plans to anyone, because he knew that Acnologia would try to stop him from going. Or perhaps he wouldn't but either way he didn't want to risk it and get into a huge debate about it.

So with that decision been made he silently packed his stuff in the middle of the night. Not that he had that much, since the majority of their belongings had burned away in the fire.

Once he was finished he gently hoisted his brother up on his back, before making their way outside. Before he started walking towards the city there was just one small thing he had to take care of.

His eyes shone with determination and anger, as he made his way to the village. She was still at the church, since it was her duty to take the night shift.

Knowing the facility quite well, he easily sneaked inside the building avoiding detection as he tiptoed down the long corridors, searching for the woman.

Entering the large room they used for prayers, he was once again amazed by the decorations that filled it. Not only were there different old relics, but paintings that was so beautiful it would occasionally take his breath away when he was a kid. Besides that there was gold ornaments and small statues everywhere.

It was a stunning room worthy of prayer, that was lit with candlelight giving the room an almost romantic feeling.

Before the shrine was a small fence like furniture, with pillows on the floor where people could crouch down and sit saying prayers while basking in the divinity the place illuminated.

 _It was perfect..._

She was sitting down there praying, her long silver coloured hair covering her back and shining in an almost unnatural colour. Not looking in his direction, he carefully placed Natsu on the ground unnoticed, before he walked towards the woman.

"I had a feeling you would come eventually" she whispered in a fragile voice.

"Alva..." Zeref said in a firm voice as he closed the gap between them.

"I couldn't do anything to help your brother, nor can I seem to wake him from his slumber" a few tears ran down her cheeks, but she sat absolutely still "I know you can't forgive me for this, I can see it in your eyes"

"Are you pleading for your life?" Zeref said in a cold voice as he reached inside his jacket and pulled out a knife.

"No..." Alva shook her head ".. not when I can't forgive myself. I... don't want to die, leaving my son all alone, but if this is what you need to get salvation, I will gladly lay down my life for you. I would do anything for Zack and Nea's children, even if it results in my death"

"All of that fancy talk will get you nowhere" he snarled, his stomach burning with anger. Zeref hated her so god damn much and something inside of him needed to see her die, especially by his own hands. He couldn't quite explain it, but it was like this feeling of hatred had only increased every time he looked at her, especially after the whole deal with his younger brother and that black hand that did something to his soul.

 _Guilty! She was guilty of his pain and sorrow!_

It might not make sense for anyone else, but it was something he had to do, no it was something he needed to do, before he could move forwards.

Something wicked and evil seemed to rush through him, causing his blood to boil with anger as a malicious snarl escaped his lips.

"Any last words?" Zeref growled as he placed the blade of his knife against her throat.

"I hope you find salvation" she sucked in her breath "And won't let the darkness consume you"

"I'll do my best" he answered, and even though his eyes was clouded with anger he acknowledged her subtle nod, before the blade slit cross her throat causing the blood to spout out like a fountain.

She looked so content and peaceful even when her body feel down on the ground, where blood spread out on the floor in an even but grim rhythm.

Zeref felt sick looking at it, not only physically but also mentally making him back away until he reached his brother's unconscious body.

"I'm sorry" he said feeling slightly remorse as he hoisted Natsu up on his back and stormed out of the church not caring if anyone saw him. Fortunately for him no one did, which would save him a lot of trouble in the future.

~ o ~ O ~ o ~

Acnologia woke up in his bed, grunting and complaining about nothing in particular as he nudged his head against the incredibly soft pillow.

 _Sleeping was nice..._

He smirked ever so slightly, when he noticed that the sunlight was shining through his window.

 _Huh? What time was it?_

Even though it was weekend and he didn't have to train, his mother would never let him sleep for too long, because there was always a lot of chores to be made.

Getting out of bed, he stood stretching his body for a few seconds before he found some black clothings, he quickly pulled on before lazily trotting out to the kitchen.

To his surprised it was completely empty, so was the living room. Zeref wasn't there wither which baffled him the most, because he always got up early, so he had more time to study.

"Mom? Zeref?" he started calling while rummaging through the house, but he received no answer, other than the silly cackling from the chickens outside.

 _Okay this is freaky_ , Acnologia thought to himself as he continued his search outside, but found no one there either.

After that he went up to the room Zeref and Natsu was occupying and immediately noticed that the few belongings they had brought with them was gone.

Knowing that something was off, he started to search more thoroughly through the room, but found no leads.

 _Did Natsu recover or did something bad happen to him?_ There were no signs of it though, like blood or something else, in fact the whole room was tidied up almost too neatly.

"No he wouldn't..." Acnologia gritted his teeth against each other, because there was only one explanation that would fit this situation, which was that his friends had eloped during the night. It didn't surprise him that he would do such a thing, especially because Zeref was the type of person who would selfishly vanish if it would benefit him somehow.

"Fucking idiot!" he growled feeling how anger burned through his veins, causing his skin to prickle. A snarl of fury escaped his lips, before he slammed a clenched fist against the table, causing the elements on it to bounce and tilt.

As he stood cursing and growling, a knock on the door caused him to flinch ever so slightly, before he started walking towards the sounds direction. Arriving there he almost flung the door out of it's sockets, causing the visitors to squeal and jump in surprise.

Even though he was only 13 he was still towering above the two newly arrived people, who was wearing the rope that represented the Church of Man.

"What?" Acnologia growled not in the mood to deal with their idiotic problems.

"Uhm... we... uhm..." a scrawny looking guy said, clearly intimidated by Acnologia's presence.

"We're here to deliver some unfortunate news" the other guy said in a stern tone, not intimidated by his presence.

"Ohh yeah?" Acnologia crooked an eyebrow sending them a challenging look "Well spill it then"

"Alva... she uhm..." the scared guy tried speaking again, but evidently he couldn't bring himself to say it, so instead he bit down his bottom lip.

" Your mother was killed last night" the braver guy stated bluntly.

"She what?!" he sneered, eyes darting between the two people "How?!"

"Someone slit her throat"

"You've got to be kidding me right?" Acnologia snarled, the anger inside of him intensifying in volume.

They not only interrupted him after finding out his friends had vanished during the night like mother fucking cowards, but they dares deliver fake news to him as well?!

Seriously there was no way in hell his mom would die so... easily. She was a powerful mage and an amazing healer, so her dying like some sort of animal brought to the slaughter house, caused him to feel shaken to the core of his soul.

Ohh, he truly hated liars and for them to create such a filthy one, made him wanna pummel them into bloody smithereens.

"I-I-I know this is harsh to hear..." the smaller man squeaked "... but according to protocol you need to..."

"You need to confirm her identity, even though it's obvious it's her" the other man finished his sentence "So if you could come with us, so we can proceed with this affair"

"Let's go then" Acnologia growled while clenching his fists so hard, his nails dug into the meat of his hands "And rest assured I will rip your bloody throats out, when I reveal the truth"

None of them said anything to this, so they started on their way towards the Church of Man in silence.

It didn't take long before they reached their destination and of course there were a lot of rope wearing people there, but Acnologia effortlessly pushed them aside not at all caring about their well being.

The scene wasn't pleasant as the blood from her wound had caused it to spatter all around her, making her lay in a pool of it. Her silver hair and white rope, stood out in an almost obscure way causing Acnologia to gasp loudly at the sight.

Her eyes were closed and even in death she looked incredibly stoic, but also strangely enough like she was at peace with something. It was really weird and morbid on a level he couldn't put a finger on, causing his heart to throb painfully in his chest as he walked over and sat down next to her body.

A few of the members of the church roared in anger about his action, but he honestly couldn't care less about those idiotic bastards.

"Mom..." he gently placed a hand on her cheek, immediately noticing how cold she was. It felt so unnatural, that he forgot how to breathe properly for a few seconds as his mind tried taking it all in.

Not being able to gather his thoughts, he noticed how dominating and overwhelming the smell of her blood was, which caused him to feel nauseous and dizzy.

Acnologia honestly had no idea what to do or say, all he could do was sit blankly staring at the corpse of his mom, laying ever so motionless and cold, which was such a sick contrast to how warm and loving she usually was.

She was the only family member he had and with her gone he had nothing left. In fact everyone he ever cared about or had a bond with, had left him all alone to be with his own misery.

His heart was throbbing so painfully, it started to become even harder to breathe causing his vision to become more twisted and blurred, as his body wasn't getting sufficient oxygen.

 _This wasn't right, it was fucking insane!_

Shaking his head in denial, he reached out towards his mom with trembling fingers, before he brought her into his warm embrace, like he had done so many times before.

Her limp body felt so incredibly fragile in his arms, which made him wonder why he hadn't noticed that before. He was a strong kid and if he had known she was this small, perhaps he could have protected her and prevented this unfortunate event from even happening.

"I'm so sorry mom" Acnologia took a few deep breaths, placing his chin on top of her head.

Even though she was dead there was something weirdly comforting about holding her in his arms, that he couldn't quite understand. So finding solace for a small while he just sat there with her in his arms, not really minding that her blood was soaking his clothes.

Being left alone like that, he found it slightly amusing to watch how the members of the church was scattering around, too afraid to confront him and his weird behaviour.

Or was it weird? He honestly had no idea, it wasn't like there was a protocol for such a situation...

Acnologia wanted to laugh, so badly to let out that tiny amount of insanity that was trying to subdue him with madness, but he resisted doing that. No, there was something happening inside of him that he couldn't quite put his finger on. It wasn't sadness, but more like a part of him had been torn into pieces to a degree that it should hurt him, but it didn't. Actually it was like he was somehow staring at his own emotions from the outside trying to understand what was going on.

The smell of blood and her cold body just seemed too wicked and strange making him want to run away as fast as he could. In fact every part of his being seemed to become numb, causing something so basic as breathing to feel freakishly weird and alien to him all of a sudden.

Not really registering his own behaviour, he placed his mother on the ground before getting up on his feet and making his way outside. Someone might have called for his attention, but he couldn't hear them. In fact everything around him seemed to vanish, making him walk in what felt like empty space where he couldn't even come into contact with his own thoughts.

Being isolated in his mind he paid no attention to anything, other than the weird sound that kept running through his head. It was a static like sound, that caused him to walk like a zombie towards his home. Once he got there he just stood staring blankly at the building, not seeing anything.

Acnologia just stood there when it hit him with full force, causing his stomach to clench together like someone had punched a hole through it, as a million thoughts started to race through his mind. Memories from the past of pain, sorrow and happiness invaded his mind, causing his breathing to get staggered, as his knees buckled underneath him, making him sit with trembling lips.

 _She was gone... gone forever... so was Zeref and Natsu. They had all left him not caring about him at all._

It felt like an acid like liquid had spawned inside his stomach, causing it to hurt in waves.

An image of Anna smiling warmly, made his eyes widen with fear, causing him to gasp loudly.

 _She was gone and perhaps she would never return... why should she? He was fucking pathetic idiot, who couldn't keep anyone safe_

 _God damn it all!_

Placing his forehead on the ground he wrapped his arms around his head, as if that could protect him from more thoughts and pain to invade him.

Tears of pain and agony streamed down his face, as the reality of it all sunk it's horrible fangs into his mind threatening to shred him into pieces with sorrow.

He screamed to make his pain audible and cried salty tears to let it all out, but it didn't soothe him.

Nothing would ever be the same, he would always be alone.

Forever... and always.

That was his destiny.

Acnologia felt very sure about that fact, causing his heart to splinter as he cried for his loss and the misery he was sure would forever befall him in his miserable life.

* * *

A/N: Helloooooooooooooooooooo! I'm so sorry it took so long for me to update this story- You see I got into this time machine and wibbly wobbly, timey wimey... uhm...

SO! In the original version I had Anna being there to calm Acnologia down, but since she's out looking for the keys she couldn't be there when he needed her the most. Poor dude o.o'

Also, as mentioned before this was originally made ages ago, before the manga ended and I had my own theory about their past. So there are stuff that isn't compatible with the lore, but I don't care that much tbh, because I wasn't satisfied with the way Hiro Mashima wrote it.

So yeah, this is my take on their past and hopefully it's somewhat enjoyable :)

Nyan *heart sign*


	9. Chapter 9

**Part 9: The Future**

It had been approximately five years, since Zeref left the village behind and entered the big city to further enhance his knowledge and to start with his different projects to keep Natsu in a sustainable condition. Once they had arrived his brother had become very ill and fragile indicating that whatever creature had revived him, didn't use a method which would keep him alive for a long period of time.

So being in a bit of distress at the time he had created a bubble of Etherious, which prevented his brother from dying. That meant his brother was kept unconscious which didn't particularly bother Zeref because as long as he was safe from harm, then that was his priority

But it was not a method he could rely on, because if the bubble broke it would insta-kill the little kid causing the deal he made to revive him to be in vain.

Zeref had not felt any effects from the sacrifice he made, so he never really thought about it and instead focused on developing different techniques and what could be potential weapons, as he searched for every solution he could, to find a cure for his brother's condition. Thankfully he got a lot of resources at the school he attended, which had a vast collection of books in their library. Sometimes he would even seek guidance with the teachers, but that raised a lot of doubt with the elders about his affairs. This ultimately let to a huge argument where Zeref learned about the curse he had gotten from when he made the deal to safe Natsu's life.

He didn't know why it happened, maybe it was due to him getting expelled and potentially never finding a cure for his brother, that made him snap, which ultimately caused the curse to be unleashed killing and erasing everyone from existence, like they were nothing more than insufficient bugs.

After that Zeref had gotten desperate to find a solution and started dealing with dark magic, where he stumbled upon the solution. If he created something known as demonic magic with his own curse, he could create something akin to demon. This way he could create a demonic counterpart for Natsu, that he would seal away in a book. As long as that book was sealed his brother's real body could live without consequences. The only problem was that if Natsu died, it would unleash the demon and all of it's chaos upon the world. If that happened it was almost destined that they would fight each other, where the victor didn't matter, because the demonic curse he had developed would kill him as well, if it vanished from the surface of the earth. After all it was due to that, he became immortal himself and it was through that he would eventually meet his end.

He had just finished his work on Natsu when he went for a walk and encountered the mighty fire dragon Igneel. They had spoken for a long while and met each other a couple of times, where the dragon told him about the plan to train a small amount of mages magic, since it could become a vital thing in the fight against the dragon's that saw humans as mere pray.

Zeref had liked the idea and since it was dangerous for him to be close to his brother, he suggested that Igneel took him as a student. He didn't reveal their relationship, but said that Natsu was an orphan which parents had been killed by dragons.

In his mind Zeref couldn't help but find it a bit funny that Natsu would be learning fire magic, since that was what ultimately had killed him in the first place.

After awakening his brother from his long slumber, Zeref was surprised at first when he noticed that Natsu didn't have any memories of the past. At first it hurt him a bit, but then he figured out it would probably be for the best, if he didn't remember their connection because the pink haired kid might try and find him at some point, demanding answers he didn't or couldn't give him.

 _At least not until he was ready for it..._

So with that Zeref handed over the child to Igneel, who left to start their training

After that a couple of years went by, where he lived in solitude and continued with his experiments.

It was during this time that he truly understood the curse he had gotten, which he named the contradiction curse due to it killing people he cared about. So that meant he would have to disregard his feelings and become a shell of his former self.

It was hard grasping it at first, but he eventually got enough control that he could mingle with other people.

As the drums of war started to sound more threatening with fights breaking out between their races, he once more found his ideas for weapons where he stumbled upon the Eclipse Gate. If he could use that somehow to ensure the future, then he would do so no matter what it took.

That was when an idea spawned in his head, which he shared with Igneel about potentially sending the few selected mages to the future, so that they might solve whatever remaining conflicts there might be.

They came to an agreement and Zeref knew he had to take things into his own hands in order to make the vision come true. But for that to happen he would need a powerful Celestial mage and there was only one person he knew that was strong enough to meet his requirements. The only problem was figuring out how to persuade her to join their cause.

Finding her on the other hand would be rather easy, especially since he kept track on what happened in the magical world and finding one celestial mage would be a peace of cake for someone with his deductive abilities. So with that in mind he left his home, to find the girl he hadn't seen since she left the village what felt like a lifetime ago.

~ o ~ O ~ o ~

Anna let out a yawn as she stretched both arms above her head, causing her shoulders to pop in a very pleasant way. She had rented a room at an inn that was rather humble and cheap, which meant low maintenance and rather dirty surroundings. Not that it bothered her in fact there was something almost cozy about the old run down establishments, that caused her to choose those destinations instead of the more fancy ones. Sure it was cheaper as well but money wasn't an issue as such for her, since she had taken a lot of missions during her trip. Of course she wasn't filthy rich, but it was enough to sustain herself.

Besides it kinda reminded her of the beginning of her journey when she was forced to be more humble, when her funds was close to none. It didn't help that she had been a young thirteen year old pup, who didn't have any experience about how the world functioned.

Ohh well, even if it hadn't been easy it was an experience that the now eighteen year old blonde charised.

Things had changed a lot for the girl, not only had her powers increased exceptionally as a mage, but her mind had matured as well making her intellectual level rise. Sure she was still childish and immature when it came to different subjects, but that was part of her charm.

Physically she had changed as well, making her look more female with larger hips and breasts. Her height had increased too, but she was still rather short compared to other women.

When on the road Anna hadn't bothered that much about going to a hairdresser, so her hair was extremely long reaching her waist. She had a few bangs, but it was something that was easy to cut herself or she could get Cancer to do it for her.

Humming to herself, Anna stepped outside the room and locked the door, before venturing down to the inn's bar. There wasn't a lot of people there and majority of them seemed like the type of people you wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley, but more often than not they were actually pretty decent people. Maybe it was because she was a calm and rather pretty blonde, that she had that effect on others, but she choose to believe all people had something nice in them if you just listened to their story.

Smiling to herself she made her way to her destination, where she ordered a tall drink. Heck she was eighteen if she wanted to get a bit tipsy there weren't anyone who could deny her that.

Anna sat at the bar desk enjoying her drink, while swinging her legs back and forth on the chair when she suddenly felt a weird aura entering the room. It wasn't like anything she had ever felt before and there was something rather sinister about it, causing a shiver to run down her spine.

Turning around on her chair she saw a short man covered in a black cloak. Since his identity was conceilled she had no idea who it might be, but the power radiating from him caused a shiver to run down her spine, because it was a power that felt unnatural and somewhat evil. The aura vanished though when the person's head turned in her direction.

"Hello?" she said tentatively hoping it wasn't someone who was there to seek trouble.

"Anna Heartfilia..." the unknown person said in a neutral voice as shaking hands reached up to pull the hood away.

"Yes?" she answered not sure if it was wise to acknowledge this person or not, but her doubt vanished once she recognised her friend's features. She was rather surprised that Zeref hadn't changed once he hit puberty like she had, because he still had some childish features. Unbeknownst to her his growth had stopped when he got cursed, but of course the celestial mage had no way of knowing that.

"Zeref?" Anna blinked rapidly trying to make sure he wasn't an illusion"... is it really you?"

"I assure you it is" he smirked, casually walking in her direction.

"I..." she took a deep shaking breath, as tears suddenly gathered in the corner of her eyes "... oh god it's so good to see you!"

Leaping of her chair she engulfed her friend in a forceful hug, causing her victim to squeak in surprise.

"It's a pleasure seeing you as well" he managed to say without sounding like he was a potato slowly being squashed into mash.

"How are you?" she smiled warmly, releasing him from her hold "I haven't seen you in ages"

"In which you are correct, I haven't had the pleasure of your company since you left five years ago" he smirked putting his hands into the pockets of his pants.

"I'm sorry I haven't had time to come visit" Anna frowned, her head falling forwards in defeat "It's just…"

"It matters not" Zeref sighed while placing a comforting hand on top of her head "Time can't be rewritten no matter how hard we try"

"I know, but that's such a lame excuse…" she shook her head feeling dejected and sad "… I… I'm sorry"

"Anna Heartfilia" he said taking a deep breath before continuing in a lower tone "I didn't intend to blame you, but reassure you that some things you cannot change, which is why regretting things are meaningless"

Even though they both had changed during the time gap, the blonde knew he was hinting towards something she was unaware of. Something painful that he himself thought he had under control, but could unravel at any moment.

"A lot of things must have happened while I was away?" she started cautiously.

"Yes, not that I am aware of everything"

"Oh?" she raised en eyebrow somewhat teasingly "Care to tell me what happened?"

"If you wish" he nodded stoically "But let's continue this elsewhere, do you have a room?"

"I do" she smiled wholeheartedly while gesturing him to follow her with one of her hands.

Going to her room it didn't take long before they started exchanging their stories. Zeref told her about his mother's death, but not everything regarding Natsu circumstances. Knowing it would only be meaningless sadness to stow upon her, he simply told her that his younger brother had gotten ill and because of that they left to study at the university in the city. After that the kid started studying magic from Igneel, which was why he was currently under the dragon's protective wings.

He didn't tell her about his curse, nor did he reveal how strained his friendship with Acnologia was. But he did reveal that someone had assassinated their common friend's mother, which caused the young blonde to cry, because she didn't know both her friends had lost their parents.

It was hard for Zeref to ignore her heart ache, but he tried his best to keep calm in order to keep the curse at bay. Thankfully Anna didn't notice this, but thought it was in his nature to be the strong rock he always had been when they grew up.

After that the celestial mage told him about her journey and how she had been to various lands, seeing both good and bad in her search for the golden keys. It had been a harsh tour, but in the end it paid off since she had succeeded in retrieving all twelve of them.

It took a few hours before Zeref left her room, Anna feeling utterly exhausted but also extremely happy after talking to her precious friend. They didn't get time to talk about what would happen next, but she was pretty sure they would have that discussion sooner or later.

~ o ~ O ~ o ~

Next morning Anna got up early in order to take a long hot shower in the bath house. It wasn't that often she allowed herself the luxury of visiting such a place and instead reverted to the cold water the inn would provide, but since it had been such a long time since she had been with her friend, she wanted to scrub herself so every inch of her was clean.

Sure she wasn't that concerned about her looks as most women was, but that didn't mean it wasn't nice to show herself from a nicer side, which didn't contain dull and worn out clothes, nor did it mean hair filled with dirt.

Feeling refreshed and in a really good mood, Anna eventually finished soaking in the warm water and got up to put on a white dress with long sleeves. It was a bit too small for her breast area, since her wahoonkas evidently thought they had to undergo a growth spurt, but fortunately the dress still fit like it was made after her measures.

Feeling confident Anna skipped own the street, until reaching the inn where she ordered a large breakfast meal.

She was thoroughly enjoying her food, humming to herself when Zeref joined her at the table.

"Good morning, did you have a pleasant sleep?" he asked politely.

"Mmm-hmm" she nodded, her mouth being so filled with eggs and sausage, it caused her cheeks to bulk "Hunmmff, ffm hum?"

"Fine thank you" he answered easily translating her words.

They sat in silence after that, Anna bobbing her head to the tune of her own song, while Zeref was transfixed staring into thin air. Or that was what her innocent mind thought, when she eventually realized her friend's huge eyes was looking at her breast like they were a phenomenon he had never experienced before. Unbeknownst to her it kinda was, since he hadn't seen a girl undergoing such a drastic development before. Besides the only breasts he had seen was before he hit puberty at the age of 13, which was before he had to use all of his time to study his brother's circumstances in a somewhat isolated place far from society, where his curse couldn't potentially kill anyone else.

So it would be fair to give the poor guy an excuse for staring so hard that his eyes might op out of their sockets, but of course the celestial mage had no way of knowing that.

Which was why she used her hand to chop down on his head, causing her friend to squeal in surprise before his face very dramatically kissed the surface of the table.

"Pervert" Anna huffed, her eyebrow twitching in annoyance as her friend tried to gain his composure again.

"I am sorry" he took a deep shaking breath, pinching the bridge of his nose as a weird aura seemed to spawn around him. It was only there for a second, but it was enough to cause the celestial mage to feel uncomfortable and slightly on edge.

"Are you okay?" she asked in concern, noticing how his body seemed to shiver.

"Yes…" he closed his eyes and appeared to be deep in thought for a few seconds "… it is only natural for your body to undergo such developments, but I wasn't aware that your chest area had developed into such huge…"

"Oy, oy" she crossed her arms forming an x in front of her chest "Can we please change the subject?"

"It is intriguing though to see how much your body has transformed over the years" Zeref mulled while scratching his chin "I wonder how men would perceive your figure and consider matting with you? After all it isn't your breasts but your hips that are essential when it comes to reproducing"

"I guess…" Anna groaned loudly not that surprised by his scientific approach on the subject.

"There have been studies though, saying that during our evolution women started growing larger breasts, because it would resemble the shape of our buttocks. After all when we were simple animals it was more custom to do the act of reproduction from behind, but once we started walking on to feet, there was potential for various new positions while being intimate, which is why breast grew exponentially to look similar to butts"

"That's waaaay more information than I wanted to know" her eyes formed into two thin lines portraying her emotions.

"It is rather fascinating though" Zeref continued ignoring her sentence "Thinking about the positions during mating, since…"

"Ahhh no no no!" she protested with a steaming red face "If we have to go down this subject, then I want to know what attracts women"

"Hm?" he blinked looking rather confused.

"What would biologically appeal to a woman when she choose a man?" she asked sincerely wanting to know despite feeling uncomfortable, because like her friend romance and other things relating to it hadn't been something she had allowed herself to indulge in.

"It depends on a lot of things" he answered sincerely "A lot of female want tall and strong men who can protect their offspring, so they need to be physically adept. Also if we go to the hunter gatherer time, a man would need to be strong enough to hunt food so they can survive critical conditions"

"Mmm, I guess that makes sense" she answered eyeing her friend up and down.

"By appearance I would not to fit that description" he chuckled "But rest assured it's only my lack in height that makes me less potential from a girl's point of view"

"Less potential…?" her eyes widened in shock, when some rather indecent thoughts rather rudely smashed all of her thoughts like a ton of bricks. Because of that she sat with quivering lips feeling rather bewildered.

"I possess strong powers and a well proportioned body" he stated neutrally before nonchalantly taking off his shirt, revealing the toned muscles on his upper body "From a scientific approach I fulfill all other requirements needed for attracting a female to reproduce with"

"…" her jaw dropped, causing her to sit staring like a mind deprived zombie.

"And when it comes to the size of my…"

"NOPE!" Anna bolted into a standing position, her cheeks burning "I don't wanna hear it!"

"It's only natural to be curious"

"I don't wanna know!" she shook her head frantically from side to side.

Looking slightly disappointed Zeref put on his shirt again, which caused the blonde to feel more at ease.

"Information and knowledge is how we strive to grow as the human race" the black haired mage stated nonchalantly.

"Tsch!" she scoffed not at all minding gaining that particular information.

"That reminds me" Zeref said in a serious tone "Even though it's been a pleasure meeting you again, the reason I had to find you is because you're a very important piece to solve the conflict with the dragons"

"I am?" her eyes widened by that sudden statement.

"Yes, in fact you're the only person who can accomplish this with your celestial magic"

"What are you talking about?" Anna wondered, feeling intrigued and rather curious.

"In order to secure the safety of humanity, I plan on opening a gate to the future and send a few selected mages through it.. If, or should I say when the war unfolds we have no way of knowing who will come out victoriously. It is possible that the dragons will succeed in domesticating us humans and if that happens we'll need a backup plan in the future to deal with the dragons"

"I see" she mulled it over in her head "But what could those mages do in the future, that they can't accomplish now?"

"There is a dragon I trust and he agreed to convey the message to some of his allies, that they need to teach some pupils magic and techniques that can expose the dragon's weaknesses. It's essentially dragon slaying methods, that they will take to the future"

"But why not use it now?" Anna wondered tilting her head to the side.

"Because the seed of magic they learn now, will need time to nurish" Zeref explained "In fact the people who learns this needs to be kids that hasn't been corrupted yet and in order for them to reach their full potential they need at least a few years of training and combat, before they can truly be a force to be reckoned with"

"Mmm, I guess that makes sense" she sat for a few seconds thinking it all over "But what can I do to help?"

"I need your Celestial Magic to open the gate" he answered "All other preparations are nearly complete"

"Wait... yesterday you mentioned Natsu training with Igneel" she bit her bottom lip before continuing "Do you plan on sending him to the future as well?"

"Yes" Zeref said revealing no emotions.

"But you love your brother" Anna said feeling rather sad "Don't you?"

"Of course I do" he answered sounding slightly offended "Everything I do, is in order to ensure his safety in fact I have faith that he can be a vital player in the future"

"But..."

"There is nothing to discuss, this is my final decision" his voice held an edge of coldness to it, that caused Anna to feel rather frightened.

"I... I see..." she gulped, smacking her tongue inside her mouth, that suddenly felt dry.

Letting out a deep breath Zeref scratched his neck "I didn't mean to startle you, the subject is just a bit sore to me"

"It's okay" Anna closed her eyes still feeling rather uncomfortable "It must have been hard reaching that decision and I respect it"

"Indeed, thank you"

"I've made up my mind as well" her eyelids flung open to reveal her determined gaze "I will help you with all of my powers"

"I... thank you" he said sounding genuinely grateful.

"So!" she fist bumped the air "Where do we start?"

* * *

A/N: Yooooooooo!

This is taking longer to edit and type than I originally thought *pants heavily*

With that said I'm considering make the chapters a bit shorter, so I can upload stuff more often.

So ehm... I hope that's a good thing? :3 Ohh and action will start picking up after this chapter, so please be patient a bit longer *heart sign*

/H


	10. Chapter 10

**Part 10: Old road, new destination**

Acnologia groaned loudly as he walked down the street in his village. He had just been to a meeting with the Church of Man and it had taken hours, where people kept blabbering about utter bullshit. It was honestly mind blowing how idiotic some people was.

The voices of his moronic colleagues or whatever they were, kept rummaging through his head causing him to say a few swear words, as he trotted back to his apartment.

Acnologia had lived there ever since his mother died, because he didn't want to live in the place that held so many memories of her and the past. So instead he sold the place to some random dude, who could burn the house or do whatever with it, because he honestly didn't care.

Once entering his home he kicked off his shoes and started stripping of his clothes, leaving a trail of it behind until he eventually reached the bathroom. For some reason he always felt dirty whenever he had been at a meeting with those religious bastards, so taking a shower afterwards felt like he was washing of sins he didn't even know he had.

Turning on the water it didn't take long for the lacrima stone installed in it to turn the liquid comfortably warm. Once satisfied with the temperature he stepped inside the steaming hot water, causing him to let out a sigh in delight as his tense muscles started to relax.

It wasn't usual for the eighteen year old kid to be stuck in meetings all day, on the contrary, he would more often than not be out doing missions or train with the dragon Haldrian. Which caused his body to be very fit and one of the strongest men physically in the village.

Taking the soap he started massaging his toned skin, before eventually reaching his silvery hair that was so long it could cover the length of his back.

Acnologia was busying himself with drying his body when he heard a knock coming from the front door.

 _It was probably one of the shitty brats from the church, who wanted him to do something… again_

 _Fucking great!_

Grabbing a new towel, he wrapped that around his waist while using the other one to dry his hair, as he leisurely walked over to greet, or well greet might be the wrong word, unless a fist to the face could be counted as one.

Smiling to himself, he tried making up an excuse for that to happen when he flung open the door and saw two people staring back at him. It took him a few moments with eyes darting back and forth before he realized who it was.

"Anna?" he blinked rapidly turning to other person "Zeref? What the heck are you guys doing here?"

"Acno!" the celestial mage called before rushing over to hug him. It caught him quite by surprise knocking the air out of his lungs, while he stood with eyes twirling in confusion.

"Anna please..." he tried appealing to the girl, but instead of listening she somehow managed to increase the volume of strength in her hold, making him gasp loudly.

"She has grown rather strong hasn't she?" Zeref stated sending him a smug smile.

"Nnnngh" he felt like his soul was trying to escape his mouth, until she finally stopped hugging him.

"I've missed you so much!" she sniffled with tears glistening in her eyes.

"Uh-huh" feeling rather dizzy Acnologia didn't register that the towel slipped down his hips exposing his body in all its glory.

"Ahh… uhm... well…" the girl stuttered, her cheeks blushing fiercely.

"Interesting" Zeref rubbed his chin "Considering your physical built I didn't expect you to be so well proportioned"

"Oy! Stop ogling my junk!" Acnologia blushed as he quickly snatched the towel and rewrapped it around him.

"Uhm... sorry?" Anna managed to say, even though it looked like she was about to pass out.

"I wonder if you're abnormality can be scientifically analysed" Zeref continued not reading the mood "Then we might understand how..."

"Stop talking about it too, you damn nerd!" Acnologia yelled angrily, as he spun around in a circle before stomping inside, followed by the other two.

"Thi-this is a nice place" the celestial mage commented as she scanned the place, that might have been somewhat okay if it wasn't for the fact that it was a complete mess. Acnologia hated cleaning and because of that, a majority of his belongings was thrown all over the place, which included some semi lethal looking plates, that contained some rather nasty looking stuff.

"It's what it is" Acnologia commented with a shrug "I'll be back in a minute, make yourselves comfortable"

He didn't wait for their reply and instead walked into the bedroom where he found a gray shirt and some black pants. After putting it on he dried his hair, causing it to flow in a silvery stream down his back. Once that was over with he made his way back to the living room.

If Acnologia was being honest with himself, he wasn't entirely sure how he felt about this sudden reunion. Seeing Anna again was kinda nice and reminded him of a time where he was more innocent and had time to develop something silly like a crush on her. Well she had liked him back, hadn't she? The memory of them kissing each other spawned in his mind, causing his stomach to do a flip. It felt nostalgic and pleasant, but due to all the cruelty he had experienced since they were last together, it almost hurt more than anything recollecting the past and the bond they used to have.

The fact that she looked absolutely stunning in her now grown body, did nothing to soothe the pain he felt in his chest. No, she was still so freakishly appealing to him and that wasn't a good thing.

Acnologia didn't need something stupid like love, it would only corrupt his mind and cause him to loose focus on what was important. Right now that was the battle against the dragons and the work he did with the Church of Man.

Zeref on the other hand... he mentally growled just thinking about that idiot, who had left so suddenly after his mother's assassination. Of course his "friend" had no way of knowing that it would happen the same night as he left with Natsu, it was just one of those damn stupid coincidences, that life just pulled all the freaking time on him.

Was he mad at him? Well kinda yeah, because the idiotic mongrel had left without notice, in the middle of the fucking night without telling him, but he wasn't as angry as he had been.

He somewhat knew Zeref had a reason for leaving and that it might include something regarding his brother. Even so that didn't give him an excuse not to try and contact him somehow afterwards, to keep him informed about what the heck was going on.

After all he cared about the little runt too!

At least Anna had been considerate enough to keep her promise and send him letters occasionally, even if the things she typed about was rather boring. Seriously, the time she wrote to him about fish tasting jelly it almost made him vomit. Ohh, but when she wrote about the adorable kitten farm, he had squealed in delight like a freaking girl.

Ahem...

Of course he was way too cool for such a reaction.

Like really!

Anyway, it was with mixed emotions Acnologia flipped over some junk that was occupying a chair, before sitting down opposite from the others, who was somewhat comfortably sitting on the couch amongst some of his clothes and other junk that might be hidden inside of it.

"So…" he started his eyes scanning them thoroughly "… what's going on?"

"We're here to convey a proposition, in which your help is quite essential" Zeref informed.

"I see" Acnologia raised an eyebrow feeling skeptic "That sounds… interesting I guess"

"It is" the black haired mage continued "Now we plan on opening a gate to the future as a precaution to what is going on"

"What?" he responded with eyes widening in shock.

"Let me explain…"

And so he did, telling him about their plan and how it might be a vital move, if they wanted to make sure the war ultimately went in their favor.

It took a few moments of silence for the silver haired kid to take it all in. Sure, it might sound like a grand plan but that didn't make it the best solution. After all it would take a lot of energy and work to accomplish their goal.

"I get your idea" he eventually said "but why do you need my help?"

"We need your manual help to finish the gate" Zeref explained "Furthermore it would be beneficial if you either help teach the pupils or you follow them to the future, so they have a mentor from whom they can seek council. After all the dragons need to stay in this timeline, so the children might need someone who has been taught this particular kind of magic for guidance"

"What?!" Anna shouted, her hands slamming against the couch as she turned to stare at Zeref "You never said anything about sending him to the future!"

"Of course not, I knew you would be against it" the black haired mage sent her a serious look.

"Well yeah!" she said in a furious tone "He's my friend and I don't want to lose him!"

"You say that as if the journey would kill him"

"I know it wouldn't"

"So you would risk the future, just because you have feelings for him?"

"No! I mean yes! I mean he's my friend!" she shouted, her face taking on a deeper shade of red.

"So it's okay to send people to the future, as long as you don't know them?" Zeref said in a skeptic tone while raising an eyebrow.

"That's not what I'm saying!"

"Uhm..." Acnologia crossed his arms in front of his chest, feeling somewhat awkward ".. am I allowed to say my opinion on this?"

"That would be reasonable, yes" Zeref answered.

"All though it sounds all fancy and shit, shouldn't we be focusing at the situation we're currently in? I mean we're in the middle of a fucking war, so wouldn't it be stupid wasting energy on something like that?"

"It is a precaution that might prove essential" the black haired mage answered "besides we can still handle the situation by observing it from afar"

"Bahh!" rolling his eyes he started feeling rather annoyed "I haven't trained this fucking hard just to be an iddle bystander or be a babysitter for some freakish runts"

"So what do you propose we do?" Zeref asked politely "That we fight the dragons and slay each and every one of them, until they acknowledge us as a liability?"

"If that's what it takes, then that's what we have to do, yeah! Even if I'm the only person left I will slay each and everyone of those pathetic reptiles!"

"What?" Anna gasped in surprise "Haven't you always believed in coexistence with the dragons? I mean... Haldrian has been teaching you for such a long time, surely you wouldn't kill him?"

"It would be troublesome, but if that's what it takes to ensure our future, then sure why not?" Acnologia fumed with anger, not truly meaning his harsh sentence.

"Don't say something like that" Anna shook her head, looking rather upset "You make it sound like killing is the only thing left for us to do"

"Well... I guess it could be our last resort" Acnologia sighed heavily feeling uncomfortable watching her distressed face.

"You don't mean that" she pleaded through trembling lips.

 _Ohh god, how the iffing hell could she still manage to stir his emotions when they had been apart for so long?_

"Yeah well, no I don't..." he sighed heavily, using one hand to run through his hair "... sorry?"

"That's okay" she smirked still looking puzzled.

It was pathetic and annoying as fuck, but seeing her look like a beaten puppy made him feel overprotective and... well almost like he wanted to scoop her up into his arms and run as fast as he could.

 _Now that would be utterly silly, huh?_

"Uh-huh" Acnologia closed his eyes feeling defeated somehow "So you need my help building the damn thing?"

"That is correct" Zeref nodded stoically "We need your insane physical strength, which I assume has only increased over the years, considering your massive muscles"

"Hell yeah!" he exclaimed, flexing his arms to show his growth, which was rather impressive.

"Excellent" the black haired kid approved as he got up on his feet "I have things that needs thorough preparation. I'll leave the blueprints of the portal to you guys, so you can begin installing it while I'm gone"

"Where are you going?" Anna asked before Acnologia got a chance to discuss the fact that he didn't like being used as a slave.

"It matters not" he said in a cryptic tone "All will be taken care of, so there's less to worry about"

"... you're still an annoying brat..." the silver haired kid said, his mouth twitching as he tried not to become overwhelmed with anger again.

Choosing not to react to that comment, Zeref spun around on his heels and exited his home, leaving the two people left with eyes wide with confusion.

"Uhm..." the girl started her hands folded in her lap "... thanks for agreeing to help us"

"Ahhh I can't say no to you, can I?" he blurted, wanting to bite his treacherous tongue.

"Heh" she smiled warmly, causing her entire body to look like it was beaming with happiness. It was an almost otherworldly beautiful sight, that he had to blink a few times to make sure he hadn't lost his mind.

"So.." he coughed into his hand trying to gather his cool "... looks like you're doing well?"

"Yeah I'm great" she nodded "You?"

"Fine" he answered, feeling rather insecure all of a sudden, as he started rubbing his neck.

"Thanks for answering my letters. I wasn't sure if you would do that"

"Yeah well I'm sorry I didn't write that often" he looked up at the ceiling finding an interesting spot to look at "I'm not that good with words like you are"

"Sure you are" Anna encouraged "Honestly they helped me feel less lonely, when I was out there searching"

"That's... cool" he turned his head to look at her once more.

"Mmm-hm"

"So... ahh... you managed to get all the keys?"

"You wanna see them?" her eyes glistened like there were a thousand stars suddenly captured inside of them.

"Yeah" he nodded, watching as the girl eagerly got up on her feet and found her keys from inside her pocket.

"Ohh, they're pretty cool looking" Acnologia said feeling rather amazed as she handed him her treasure.

"I know right?" she bounced on the spot sounding giddy "It was worth all the trouble getting them"

"It wasn't all bad, I mean you did have a great adventure out there as well, yeah?" he said with eyes glued to the objects in his hands "At least that's what it sounded like in your letters"

"True, but I really missed you guys"

"So..." he smirked teasingly ".. who did you miss the most, me or that emo kid?"

"What?" her jaw visibly dropped "I couldn't possibly answer that!"

"But the answer would obviously be me, right?" he got up on his feet and handed her the keys back, which she swiftly put into her pocket.

"Riiiight?" he smoothly walked over to her and placed a hand on top of her hand.

"Ahh... uhm..." her face suddenly turned scarlet underneath his touch.

"Come on, it ain't that hard to answer you know?" he chuckled, thoroughly enjoying the situation.

"I know it is!" Anna squealed as she bent down her knees and away from his hand, before she took a few steps backwards towards the exit.

"Mmm-hm" he cocked his head to the side, feeling somewhat eager to hear his name escape her lips.

"I mean it's sooo obvious" she forced out a laugh, her body slowly reaching the main door.

"I know right?" he said feeling a huge boost of self confidence.

"Because sure he might be a bit thick headed, but he's always there when I need him" her hand grabbed the door knob "And honestly he's become rather handsome, if you ask me"

"Well, I don't know about that" huge imaginary starts started dancing around his body as he rubbed his chin.

"Ohh but he's always been my favourite"

"Heh" he smiled almost shyly, feeling like his brain was floating on some fucking pink cloud.

"That's why..." she flung the door open "... Zeref is my answer"

"Of course it is!" he said in a confident tone "... wait, what?"

"Byyyyye~" Anna wiggled her tongue teasingly towards him, as she bolted out the apartment with a pearling laughter escaping her mouth.

"Ohh no you don't!" he stormed after her fleeing form, causing the girl to gasp in surprise when she noticed that he was pursuing him.

"Stupid old Acnologia" she yelled back at him with a laugh, while perfectly dodging people and different objects in her way.

"Oy!" a vein in his forehead popped with anger "I'm the same age as you are!"

"Then why haven't you catched me yet?"

"Ohh it's on!" he smiled to himself, starting to enjoy the thrill of the chase.

They kept running through the streets like that, Acnologia stubbornly following his friend until they reached a building site, where a lot of people were busy constructing new living quarters.

He suspected she did this because she didn't think he would be stupid enough to pursue her into a restricted area.

 _But ohh boy was she wrong! He was and would always be a rebel at heart._

His suspicion was confirmed when she turned her head and her eyes almost bulged out of their sockets, when she spotted him This caused her to stumble a bit as her toes suddenly smashed against some wood on the ground, that she didn't notice.

 _This was his chance!_

With stars glistening in his eyes he almost caught up to his friend, when he spotted something in the corner of his eyes. It was moving so fast that he barely registered what it was until it came directly into his field of vision.

 _Holy crap!_ He managed to think as a huge iron bar smashed into her right side with full force, causing her to scream in pain and surprise as her body was blown to the side

"Anna!" Acnologia shouted feeling rather panicked, when he made his way over to her.

"Ngh..." she moaned from the ground, her teeth digging into her bottom lip.

"What the heck do you kids think you're doing down there?!" some idiotic worker shouted, causing Acnologia to growl in anger, before he scooped the girl into his arms and stormed out of the place.

He didn't really consider her injuries, he just knew that if confronted by the workers, it would most likely turn into a rather grim situation.

 _For them..._ he thought, his eyes shining with so much hatred that it could intimidate even the strongest foe.

Anna whimpered a bit, but other than that no words was exchanged as he raced down the street, until he reached the healer's place. Fortunately they had managed to get e new one after his mother's demise, but she was nowhere as skilled as she had been.

 _Not that it mattered one freaking bit,_ he kicked the door in sending it flying before it smashed into splinters against the opposite wall.

There were a few people in the waiting room who let out surprised screams, or jolted to their feet but he ignored them.

"What's going on?" the healer flung open her door and eyed the couple up and down.

"She's injured" he answered shortly, stomping right into the other room, followed closely by the older female.

"Tsch!" the woman named Poulette closed the door behind her "Even a blind rat could see that! Now place her on the bed"

Doing as he was told, Acnologia gently placed her on the soft fabric.

Getting a more clear view on her body, he felt completely shocked which caused the air to get stuck in his lungs.

There was blood oozing out of her slightly blue coloured lips, which had dropped down and soaked her white dress. Heck, she was even wheezing and obviously struggling to breathe!

 _Holy mother of freaking dragon droppings! Why didn't he notice that sooner?_

Feeling frantic and starting to panic he turned his head to look at Poulette, who was busy cleaning her hands and finding sterile clothings.

 _Dear god, there wasn't time for that shit!_

A growl formed in his throat as he rummaged through a few cabinets until he found the tools he would need. He wasn't an educated doctor or anything, but he had received some basic training from his mother.

It was kind of inevitable, since she had to work and still raise him on her own. So he had seen his share of injuries during his youth, even stuff that would make most people cringe or throw up.

With steady hands he put on some rubber gloves, before using a scissor to cut through the fabric of her clothes. Having access to some of her skin, he then pushed a syringe into her chest.

The air pocket that had formed inside her ribcage was slowly oozing out from the syringe, but it wasn't enough. So taking a tube he fastened it to the needle in one end and to a suction device at the other one. It was a very basic device, that looked like an empty balloon but it was sufficient for its purpose.

Acnologia watched very carefully the balloon looking equipment as it started growing, meaning the air was starting to leave the girl's body. It was a rather delicate balance to make sure everything was out of her, before they could proceed to the next step.

Poulette placed herself next to the tall boy and gently put an oxygen mask on the girl, so her lungs could get sufficient air while they finished patching her up.

Since her lung was punctured from a broken rib, the healer used her glowing hands to heal that to begin with. It was fairly simple, because the bone was rather fleksibel.

After that the woman proceeded to heal the wound on her lung, so the girl wouldn't drown in her own blood.

As time went by Anna's lips started turning into a more natural colour, just like her breathing started to seem less strained.

It felt like forever had gone by, before the celestial mage was in a stable condition.

"Jeez!" the silver haired boy exhaled, placing his hands on the bed. He felt rather exhausted all of a sudden, as he stood there staring at the girl's quiet body.

"She'll be fine now" Poulette said, pulling her cloves of "Just give her a day or two to recover, then it will be like nothing happened"

"Yeah" he agreed with a sigh "removing his own cloves before ruffling his hair, like that motion could calm his nerves.

"I'll be back in a moment" the healer stated before leaving the room.

"You know I always wondered how our reunion would be, but it never included something like this" the tall boy grabbed Anna's hand and gave it a squeeze "If this is how it'll be from now on, I'm pretty sure you'll be the death of me"

He chuckled darkly to himself, feeling incredibly relieved. After all she had finally gotten back to him and if she had managed to die so annoyingly easy, he would have gone insane from grief.

 _Stupid, stupid, stupid!_ He chanted to himself, his head shaking from side to side as if trying to erase the melancholy that followed by the thought of loosing her.

"God!" he smacked a hand against his cheek "I'm such an idiot!"

It would have been amazing if Anna choose that moment to wake up and agree with him, but unfortunately that didn't happen.

Instead he was left to sit mulling it all over in his head, rewinding the event again and again until it made him feel sick.

 _Never again would anything or anyone be allowed to harm her,_ he promised in his mind, not knowing that it was a promise he couldn't keep.

* * *

A/N: Sorry for the late update, I've been rather busy with the Inktober challenge and I'm currently in the middle of moving, so all my stuff is spread out everywhere. It's utter chaos o.o

I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but in this fiction Acnologia doesn't get his markings until later on. Plus I view his hair as more straight, instead of that super saiyan hair he has. Ohhh and it's gray because this story was typed way before his hair colour was revealed, so I'm sticking with it :3

I hope you enjoyed the chapter and have a nice day!

Cherio~

/H


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